EXCLUSIVE: PACKHAM’S PUFFIN HUNTING CLAIMS DEBUNKED

Since 1882

Can a
cocker
cut it on
the peg?
ROUGH SHOOTING

How to tackle
walked-up
partridges
E AR DEFENDERS

In-ear vs
over-ea

WI
J US
SURREN

BEST-KEPT SECRE TS PIGEON DECOYING

THE BRITISH GUNMAKERS ESSEX BIRDS

YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF AT SUNRISE
 START WITH A
STRONG FINISH
Ceramic Coating Technology
Benelli’s best-selling model, the M2 is now available, in
limited quantities, with a Cerakote finish. The M2 is the
No. 1 choice among professional users for its reliability and
durability; added to which, this treatment will make it the
toughest ever.
The ‘Tungsten Grey’ Cerakote applied to the M2 barrels
and action will not only make this the toughest M2 ever,
but it also looks stunning. Powered by Benelli’s ultra-reliable
inertia system it also benefits from other technological
features including the Comfortech recoil reduction system.
GMK Ltd
For further product information and details of your local stockist please call GMK on
01489 587500 or visit www.gmk.co.uk
The M2 Cerakote is available in 28” barrel and comes with
5 chokes and is cased.
Why Cerakote?
Cerakote is an ultra-thin, polymer ceramic coating that
offers an extremely tough and resistant finish. The unique
formulation of Cerakote enhances a number of physical
performance properties including abrasion/wear resistance,
corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, impact strength,
and hardness. The fact that it is so thin makes it the ideal
application for firearms.
CERAKOTE
TUNGSTEN
£1645 SRP
BEN0719M2CER
 DOG OF THE WEEK
In association with Orvis
For all things dog, Shooting Times recommends Orvis.co.uk
Outdoor outfitters, instructors and apparel makers since 1856.

Tally
Having just turned four, Tally has had her first litter — one of which, Fig, is being kept. She does everything
from dogging-in poults to beating and picking-up, and has a talent for finding birds that nobody else can.

Owned and photographed by Andy Thompson

 07.08.19
Issue 6,152 £22.99
The season offers
thrilling sport and
Join our club challenging birds. Follow
In the dining room of it in Shooting Times for
one of London’s most less than the cost of a
pukka gentlemen’s
clubs, Dr Mark Avery driven partridge
is lunching with Chris
shootingtimessubs.co.uk/47AL
Packham. Dr Avery has reportedly
been a member of the Reform for 0330 333 1113 Quote code: 47AL
SAVE
years and Mr Packham is said to like Lines open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm (UK time) UP TO
its exclusivity because he grows
weary of all his fans.
*Pay just £22.99 by direct debit payable every 3 months, with the price
guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance of
any price changes. Offer closes 31 August 2019. Terms and conditions
35%
“Do you know,” says Packham, apply. For full details please visit www.magazinesdirect.com/terms.

“I think the general licences should

be changed.” Through a mouthful
of potted shrimps, Avery agrees and
says he’ll take it up with his contacts
in the shooting world. He has many
of them, by the way. Including me.
That conversation never
happened but it’s rumoured the club
luncheons often do. The sad thing is
that it could have done and, if it had,
Dr Avery would have found a lot of Can you put a cocker on the peg? Pigeons in a misty dawn
enthusiasm for reforming the general
16 Our experts say it can be done
20 A successful day over stubble
licences. But I guess that wasn’t the
way they wanted it. Why collaborate,
eh, when you can raise hell?
News broke last week that Wild
Justice has decided to ‘park’ legal
action on the general licences ‘for the
moment’ (see p.7). Some are saying
they’ve lost but I’d like to know who’s
won? They’ve burned bridges with
the government, polarised the
countryside and squandered public Don’t mess with your hearing Get ready for grouse
money. Next time, Mark, just pick up
24 Ear defenders are a vital piece of kit
28 Preparation for the Twelfth
the blower. You’ve got my number.
Patrick Galbraith, Editor

Follow Patrick on Twitter

@paddycgalbraith

Contents
NEWS & OPINION REGULARS Quality can be affordable Gundog training steps up
32 A superb gun at a realistic price
36 Time for the dummy launcher
06 NEWS 12 COUNTRY DIARY
10 LETTERS 14 GAMEKEEPER
FEATURES 40 CATLOW
16 GUNDOGS 42 VINTAGE TIMES
20 PIGEON 44 GUNDOGS
SHOOTING 46 COOKERY
24 EAR DEFENDERS 48 SPORTING
28 ROUGH ANSWERS
SHOOTING 53 CROSSWORD
32 GUNMAKING 54 PRODUCTS
36 GUNDOG 58 SHARPSHOOTER
TRAINING Work before play Eel’s well that ends well
40 Preparing for the new season
46 Venison salad with the smoked fish

4 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 NEWS
E XC L U S I V E
British puffin hunter stories
are blown out of the water
Shooting Times investigation proves that claims about British hunters
going on puffin-shooting trips are completely without foundation
C
laims by campaigners
that UK hunters
are visiting Iceland
to hunt large
numbers of puffins have been
proved false by a Shooting
Times investigation. Small-scale
puffin hunting with nets is a
traditional Icelandic activity,
with roughly 25,000 of the
country’s 8million puffins
netted annually.
Hunting puffins with shotguns
is a relatively recent activity and is
mainly undertaken by foreigners.
Puffins are a traditional Icelandic
food and are eaten by hunters and
served in restaurants.
Claims of large-scale puffin
hunts by British nationals were
started by former League Against
Cruel Sports head Eduardo
R. FAULKS / D. GOULD / ALAMY
Goncalves. They were first
reported in the Daily Telegraph
before being picked up by a
number of newspapers in both
the UK and Iceland. The Mirror
claimed that “British trophy
6 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
hunters are flocking to Iceland to
shoot up to 100 puffins at a time
before bringing the carcases
back home.”
The stories were illustrated
with photographs of what were
claimed to be British hunters
with dead puffins.
Anti-shooting campaigners
enthusiastically took up the story,
“A simple check of the website
made it clear the hunters in the
pictures were Maltese”
spreading it across social media
and demanding apologies from
shooting organisations.
Mr Goncalves went on
to make the extraordinary claim
that uncontrolled puffin hunting
was the cause of the decline in the
UK puffin population.
However, the claims
rapidly began to unravel when
investigated by Shooting Times.
We traced the origin of two
photographs that campaigners
claimed showed British hunters.
They were taken from the website
of a business called the Icelandic
Hunting Club.
A simple check of the captions
on the website made it clear the
hunters in the pictures were
Maltese. We were then able to
go on to establish that none
of the pictures showed British
hunters. Björn Birgisson, founder
of the Icelandic Hunting Club,
dismissed the story of British
hunters taking part in mass puffin
hunts in Iceland as “nonsense”.
He told Shooting Times that
the company shoots about
50 puffins a year and that
there was “no uncontrolled
Stories of British hunters
going on puffin-shooting
trips have proved false
hunting in Iceland”. Crucially,
inquiries by Áki Ármann Jónsson,
director of Icelandic hunting
organisation Skotvis, established
that none of the mandatory
licences required to hunt puffins
had been issued to British
nationals this year or last.
The correspondence
between Mr Jónsson and
Iceland’s ministry for the
environment was viewed by
Andie Fontaine, a journalist at
Icelandic online newspaper
the Reykjavik Grapevine, who
verified its contents.
Mr Jónsson told Shooting
Times the lack of licences meant
it would have been impossible
for any UK hunters to take part
in puffin hunting in Iceland.
He also told us that during
his 15 years as director of the
Icelandic Wildlife Management
Institute, he had not known of
anyone travelling from the UK
to shoot puffins in Iceland.
Matt Cross

Wild Justice ‘parks’ action
Wild Justice has put on hold
its final legal challenge to
the general licences. After
the licences were reissued
by Defra, the group dropped
its original challenge to the
legality of the licences.
Campaigners instead
began a new challenge
focused on the licence that
allows control of carrion
crows to protect game birds.
However, that challenge has
now been ‘parked’.
In a curious explanation
of its decision — which
contradicted its previous
claims — Wild Justice insisted
that it may yet relaunch the
legal challenge.
Using a curious motoring
analogy, the Wild Justice blog
said: “So if our legal challenge
is a car, we haven’t scrapped
it. In fact it is almost fully
fuelled (the crowdfunder),
the driver is sitting at the
wheel and the engine is
revving. We are ready to
New cabinet is a mixed bag
Boris Johnson’s new cabinet
appears to be a mixed bag for
fieldsports enthusiasts. The
decision to replace Michael
Gove, who was embroiled
in the general licences row,
George Eustice has returned as minister of state for agriculture
Email your stories / STeditorials@ti-media.com
Wild Justice has put its legal challenge over carrion crows on hold
set off again at a moment’s
notice.” Despite having
considerable funding left over
from its failed general licence
challenge, Wild Justice has
also announced it is releasing
a fundraising single.
was widely welcomed. Mr
Gove has moved to oversee
preparations for a no-deal
Brexit as chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster. His
position as environment
The song about grouse
shooting is being performed
by an indie rock band,
though it is unclear if any of
the organisation’s directors
will be performing in
the recording.
secretary has been given to
Theresa Villiers. The former
Northern Ireland minister
is an outspoken supporter of
the hunting ban but is also an
advocate of the badger cull.
The decision to restore
George Eustice to his
previous position as minister
of state for agriculture has
been widely welcomed, with
Tim Bonner describing him
as “the right man for the job”.
The news that Dumfries
and Galloway MP Alister Jack
has been appointed secretary
of state for Scotland was
also welcomed. Mr Jack
is a reputedly highly skilled
game Shot .
MP Simon Hart has left his
position with the Countryside
Alliance and taken up the role
as parliamentary secretary
to the cabinet office. Mr Hart
has been a country sports
enthusiast and advocate
for many years.
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 7
Weekend Twitter poll
Were @TheGameFair right in their
decision to disinvite Chris Packham
from this year‘s event?
13% Yes
81% No
6% Who’s Chris Packham
follow us @shootingtimes Respondents: 3,149
To do this week
Become a top
W A T C H Shot! With the
game season rapidly approaching, it’s
time to get your eye in. A new series from
Shooting Times, produced in
association with Hull Cartridge, will help
you become the Shot you’ve always
wanted to be. In the first episode, which
is available now on YouTube, Tom Payne
looks at eye dominance and the tricky
issue of a how a shotgun is actually
meant to work. You can find it at po.st/
STeyes or by visiting the Shooting Times
channel on YouTube.
With less than
C H E C K a month to go
until the wildfowling season opens,
it’s time to start feeding flightponds.
Ducks will take a variety of food
including potatoes, though barley is
widely regarded as the optimum food
for ducks. Don’t feed too much as it can
attract rats and harm water quality.
Roughly 10 litres of barley per 100
ducks per day is the norm.
 NEWS
More than 114,000 people visited
this year’s Game Fair at Hatfield
EVENTS DIARY House, with sales topping £60m

12 AUGUST
GROUSE SEASON
OPENS
Get ready for the
Glorious Twelfth

25-26 AUGUST
FENLAND
COUNTRY
FAIR
Stow-cum-Quy Park,
Stow-cum-Quy
fenlandfairs.com

31 AUGUST
DEVON ANNUAL
AUCTION OF PROMISES
In aid of the GWCT
Honiton Showground,
Stockers Farm, Gittisham
gwct.org.uk/events

5 SEPTEMBER
Heat and rain fail
LADIES’ BEGINNERS
AND NOVICE CLAY
TARGET SHOOTING DAY
Henrhyd waterfalls
to faze fair-goers
Waun Uchaf clay Challenging weather conditions fail to dampen spirits
shooting ground, Neath
basc.org.uk/events as thousands flock to enjoy Hatfield House event
The 61st Game Fair has been hailed The major countryside a demonstration on how to butcher
7- 8 S E P T E M B E R
a success, despite an extraordinary organisations were also a wild boar, gundog displays
SANDRINGHAM range of weather conditions and represented, with BASC, the — as well as managing some
GAME AND controversy over the line-up. Countryside Alliance, the GWCT serious retail therapy.”
COUNTRY FAIR There was torrential rain, hail and and the Kennel Club among But the fair wasn’t all fun and
Sandringham temperatures that soared as high those attending. frivolity. Political issues affecting
estate, Norfolk as 38ºC during the three days. Sarah Lee, head of policy at the the countryside and fieldsports
gameandcountryfair.co.uk The controversial last-minute Countryside Alliance, said: “We had were discussed in the Carter Jonas
decision to withdraw invitations a great weekend at the Game Fair, Theatre. There were debates on a
to anti-shooting campaigners welcoming old and new members, range of issues including whether
7 SEPTEMBER
a deer-stalking style qualification
LADIES’ DRIVEN “The muddy conditions certainly is a good idea for game Shots.
PARTRIDGE AND The Game Fair managing
DUCK SHOOT didn’t spoil the event for us” director James Gower said: “I have
Naughton Estate, worked in the events and exhibition
Balmerino,Newport-on-Tay Chris Packham and Dr Mark Avery friends and people who just wanted industry for 30 years, but the Game
basc.org.uk/events did not deter 114,203 people to learn more about what we are Fair continues to be the highlight
from visiting the fair at Hatfield doing and campaigning on.” for me personally. This year has
House in Hertfordshire. Susan Rought-Whitta from been another great success. I am
The event featured almost Staffordshire, attending with her excited and proud to be part of the
1,000 exhibitors selling everything husband Steve for the third time, wonderful collection of industries,
from guns to sunglasses. Roughly said: “We went on Sunday and had business and communities that
200 exhibitors were attending the a wonderful day. The muddy and we serve, and I look forward to
ALAMY / A. WARD

fair for the first time. Total sales for drizzly conditions certainly didn’t welcoming them all to Ragley Hall
the weekend are believed to have spoil the event. We saw everything in Warwickshire next year.”
topped £60million. we wanted to — hounds parading, Matt Cross

8 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE


Scotland plans tougher
wildlife crime penalties
The Scottish government
is consulting on proposals
to significantly increase the
penalties for wildlife crime
and to make it easier to
investigate and prosecute
these crimes.
The proposals include
a plan to increase the number
of wildlife offences that can be
tried in front of a jury. Trying
these crimes under ‘solemn
procedure’ would allow the
government to increase
the penalties to a proposed
unlimited fine and five years
in prison.
This in turn would place
a number of wildlife offences
into the category of ‘serious
crime’, allowing a wider range
of police powers to be used
to investigate them.
Waitrose bans lead shot game
Waitrose is to stop selling
game shot with lead. The
supermarket intends to
completely phase out lead
shot game by the 2020-2021
game-shooting season.
A spokesman said:
“Waitrose & Partners
is the largest retailer
Waitrose will stop selling game shot with lead from next season
Email your stories / STeditorials@ti-media.com
The punishment for
some other offences would
be increased to 12 months
in prison or a £40,000 fine.
The proposed changes
would also include increasing
the amount of time before
a prosecution becomes
‘time barred’ .
Police Scotland is planning tougher penalties for wildlife crimes
of game in the UK, selling
a range of prepared
woodpigeon, partridge
and pheasant during the
appropriate seasons.
“We are supplied by
a single game dealer who
ensures that all the game we
source from leading British
According to the
consultation: “By extending
the time limit we seek to
ensure that Police Scotland
have sufficient time to carry
out their investigation and to
gather and analyse the range
of evidence required to bring
forward proceedings.”
shoots is reared to the very
highest standards.
“We rigorously monitor
the shoots we deal with
and expect them to adhere
to Waitrose’s bespoke
standards of animal welfare
and shoot behaviour.
“In addition, from the
2019 to 2020 season, we will
begin phasing out the use
of lead shot on the estates
from which we source game,
requiring instead that the
estates require their Guns
to use lead alternatives
such as steel or bismuth,”
Waitrose added.
A spokesman for BASC
said: “As a market leader we
welcome Waitrose’s decision
to stock and boost their wild
game meat range.
“Any increase in the
availability of game in the
public market is good news
for the rural sector.
“Game is a healthy source
of protein, is growing in
popularity and we recognise
Waitrose’s decision.”
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 9
NEWS IN BRIEF
Year of Gamekeeper
boost for charity
NextyearistobetheYearofthe
Gamekeeper.The2020initiativeis
intendedtosupporttheGamekeepers’
WelfareTrust,acharitythatsupports
gamekeepersandtheirfamilieswhen
theyareinneed.Announcingthemove,
trustpresidentSirJohnScottsaid:
“Wehopethatwithyourhelp,the
YearoftheGamekeeperwillbeboth
acelebrationofgamekeepingand
provideasustainablefutureforthetrust,
allowingustocontinueourvitalworkand
addresstheeverincreasingchallenges
which face our industry.”
New biodegradable
cartridge unveiled
A new cartridge with a cardboard wad
is soon to hit the market. Jocker’s
wad will decompose in approximately
three days in a damp environment. It
will initially be available in 12-bore in
both 21∕2in and 3in, with loads ranging
from 28g to 36g and a range of shot
sizes and materials. The cartridges are
exclusive to Jocker and will
be available to the trad
the UK through whole
Shooting Star. Shootin
Times will be the first U
magazine to trial the
cartridges, with sever
noted wildfowlers,
game and pigeon
Shots involved.
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
@SHOOTINGTIMESUK
 LETTERS
LET TER OF THE WEEK

Save our hares — before it’s too late

ISSN: 0037-4164

Shooting Times, TI Media Ltd,

Pinehurst 2, Farnborough Business Park,
Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF.

LastDecember,onashootday East Anglia who is studying creatures. We need to act

inDerbyshire,Ifoundarecently the problem. ‘My’ hare found now before it’s too late.
deceasedhare—itwasstilljust her way there for scientific J. Olifent, by email
warm—withnoobvioussignsof research purposes and during
For editorial enquiries: causeofdeath.Anotherlivehare some recent correspondence The Editor responds: We
STeditorials@ti-media.com
01252 555220
wasincloseproximityanddid with Prof Bell, I was informed have been following, with
For picture enquiries: whatharesdo,sittingtightuntil that hares are still dying in great concern, the plight
max.tremlett@ti-media.com
Subscription hotline: thelastminuteandsurprising numbers across the country. of our cherished hares and
0330 333 1113
help@magazinesdirect.com
usbysuddenlyburstingfrom Please raise awareness Simon Whitehead, our
underourfeet.Wehaveastrict among the conservation- ferreting expert, has worked
Editor Patrick Galbraith
Deputy editor Ed Wills ‘nogroundgame’policysowe minded readership and include in conjunction with Prof Bell
edward.wills@ti-media.com
Brand assistant Sarah Pratley knowshehadn’tbeenshotat, the link below to try to help on the issue (Splitting hares,
01252 555220 butwedonotknow what the Professor Bell find the cause 18 July 2018 and Can we
Group art director Dean Usher neighboursdo. of the mysterious deaths of save the hare?, 27 February).
Art editor Rob Farmer
Picture editor Max Tremlett Being a keen Shot who our beloved hares. Simon’s advice was: if you
Chief sub-editor Sarah Potts
no longer shoots hares, and To further this research find a dead hare, wearing
Deputy chief sub-editor Nicola Jane Swinney being aware of the plight of a Just Giving page has disposable gloves, double
nicola.swinney@ti-media.com
Sub-editor Richard Reed hares nationwide at present, been created; visit po.st/ bag the body and freeze the
richard.reed@ti-media.com
News editor/Digital editor Charlotte Peters
the countryman in me wanted hareresearch. The value of carcase if possible. Take
charlotte.peters@ti-media.com to know why she had died. So hares cannot be overestimated photographs of it. You can
www.shootinguk.co.uk
I took her home and made a and I believe it is a most worthy then contact d.bell@uea.ac.uk
Managing director Kirsty Setchell
Group managing director Adrian Hughes
few telephone calls. The GWCT cause. Our countryside would or Jonathan Davis,
put me in touch with Professor surely be a poorer place without tel 07872
Classified advertising
Felicity Bateman-Wood 01252 555205 Diana Bell at University of these beautiful, enigmatic 149147.
felicity.bateman-wood@ti-media.com
Display advertising
Rebecca Norris 07929 369204
rebecca.norris@ti-media.com
Charlene Homewood 07815 712678
IN ASSOCIATION WITH BROWNING
charlene.homewood@ti-media.com
Laurence Pierce 07971 605143 The winner of Letter of the Week will receive a
laurence.pierce@ti-media.com
Group advertisement manager
Browning Powerfleece. Warm and practical, it is ideal
Stuart Duncan for both the peg and the pub and is available in sizes
stuart.duncan@ti-media.com
Advertisement production S-5XL. For more information visit www.browning.eu.
Tony Freeman
tony.freeman@ti-media.com
Colour dependent on availability.
Innovator (for loose and bound-in inserts)
020 3148 3710
Can’t find ST? 020 3148 3300
Back issues 01795 662976 MODERN DRESS on wet days. However, its modern I’d rather stand next to
support@mags-uk.com fleece-material replacement is a ‘scruffy’ gentleman who
Though I enjoyed reading the lighter, durable and is machine- understands the etiquette of the
article about shooting attire washable and half the price of field rather than a well-dressed
Shooting Times is the official weekly journal (Suits you now, sir, 24 July) I can’t the tweed coat I gave my cousin. ‘sportsman’ who thinks game
of BASC and the CPSA entirely agree with the author’s Mind you, a good tweed sports shooting and clay shooting are
BASC Marford Mill, Rossett LL12 0HL
Tel 01244 573000 sentiments. I realise that tweed jacket looks smart enough for both competitive sports.
CPSA PO Box 750, Woking, GU24 0YU
Tel 01483 485400
has a long and distinguished any social occasion. S. G. Thompson, by email
association with fieldsports On the matter of ties I also
Wereservetherighttoeditletters.Nolettershouldexceed250
words.Letterswillnotbeusedunlesstheauthorisprepared and country life in general, but have strong opinions. I remember The Editor responds: Some
tohavetheirnameandcountyofresidencepublished.
Lettersshouldbeaddressedto:TheEditor,Pinehurst2, have found that the modern attending an early September seasons ago on smart Angus
FarnboroughBusinessPark,Hants,GU147BF,oremail
STletters@ti media.com.Pleaseincludeadaytimetelephone alternatives are simply much partridge shoot when it was grouse moor I was huffing and
number and postal address.
more practical for use in the field. simply too hot to wear a tie and puffing my way up a hill when a
The truth is that last month I opted to wear a green polo shirt friendly man dressed in a polo
I gave my tweed shooting coat to instead of a constricting shirt shirt, shorts and walking boots
a younger cousin to help him get and tie. One old chap — who appeared on the horizon. Some
started in the sport. It’s warm and was dressed in tweed breeks, minutes later he fell into step
its patent waterproof liner will shirt, waistcoat and tie — asked beside me, beat enthusiastically
serve the youngster well until me before the first drive if I was for one drive then wandered off
he can afford to buy a new coat intending to go to the beach. again. I briefly thought he was
of his own choice. But I noticed that by midday he some sort of thirst-induced
Over the years I found that was sweating profusely and his mirage but a later conversation
tweed soaks up rain like a sponge complexion was as red as the with a keeper confirmed that the
and realised the weight of the proverbial beetroot. casually dressed guy was the
This week’s cover image was
damp material was having a Too much is made of owner of the estate who looked
ALAMY

captured by Andy Hook

negative effect on my shooting appearance on formal shoot days. on beating as ‘good exercise’. He

10 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE


clearly takes a similar approach to
you, Mr Thompson, but I suppose
it’s highly unlikely he’s ever going
to get a dressing down.
GIVE A PLATFORM
I suggest that Shooting Times
invites Wild Justice to contribute
an article to explain its motives,
objectives and principles —
or why not publish an interview
with Chris Packham and co?
I do not understand the group’s
objection to shooting. Is it OK
to shoot rats but not to shoot
woodpigeons? Why doesn’t Wild
Justice campaign against the
slaughter of beef, pigs, sheep,
chickens and so on?
Years ago my job took me
to abattoirs where I witnessed
occasions of cruelty. Mr Packham
is a vegetarian and I respect him
for this but I do not understand
his concentration upon and
antipathy towards shooting.
It is simply another way
to harvest food; is it wrong
to enjoy the harvesting?
Are the other members
of Wild Justice vegetarians? Why
is Wild Justice not campaigning
against the killing of animals for
food — some by halal — which
brings six-week-old chickens
to the supermarket shelf.
We in the shooting community
need to advance from anger and
frustration to understanding our
protagonists’ views the better
to frustrate them.
K. Salad, Lancashire
See the Editor’s letter, p.4.
BEST INVESTMENT
Having listened to Charlie
Jacoby and guests in the Carter
Jonas Game Fair Theatre and
visited their stands, I am now a
member of the big four — BASC,
GWCT, National Gamekeepers’
Organisation and finally the
Countryside Alliance. They all
have special individual strengths
but, united, they form a valuable
lobbying body and between
them truly represent the cross
‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please.
We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who
come after.’’ King George VI
Email your letters / STletters@ti-media.com
Our beautiful countryside would become
barren and bare without management
KEEPING IT
‘NATURAL’
As a young boy, I was invited
by a friend of my father’s to
beat. Peter Medforth started
a wonderful driven game
shoot at Raisthorpe Manor
and his son David and his
wife Julia have built on his
foundation. This was the start
of my love of country sports,
especially game shooting.
Fast forward 15 years, my
then father-in-law, a true
countryman, introduced
me to the walked-up rough
shoot, so my lifelong love
was formed.
Fast forward again.
I was incensed to read that
Wild Justice is considering
challenging our right to
release pheasants into our
‘green and pleasant land’
(News, 24 and 31 July). Do
these deluded people really
believe that our ‘natural’
countryside would be as
it looks and is without the
careful, dedicated and often
underpaid hard work of all the
keepers, gillies and rangers?
Never mind those of us who
beat and pick-up for love
section of rural life. Expensive?
Compared with a good-quality
coat, no; value for money,
excellent. What better way to
invest in the countryside, its
people and the pursuits I love?
On the stands I met and saw
a lot of brand ambassadors for
varying products. I also saw
thousands of ambassadors for
NEXT WEEK IN
HIGHLAND STALK
As the season heats up,
Megan Rowland goes in
search of a red stag.
of working dogs and good
company, not for pay.
I would also like to know the
lineage of Mr Packham to see
if his bloodline is indigenous
to this great land or whether
the introduction of pheasants
by the Romans pre-dates his
ancestors’ arrival.
Wild Justice refuses to SEASON PREVIEW
accept scientific evidence to Are we falling out of love
support the pro-shooting and with wildfowling?
conservation groups within
our population. They shout
down distinguish academics
and sidestep anyone who
can expose them for the
misguided souls that they are.
Have they even begun
to consider the damage
their misinformed views
will have on the vast rural
community that relies on the
country sports industry for its ALL CHOKED UP
livelihood or top-up income? Teague: the best chokes in
If the views of Wild Justice the world? The Editor goes
prevail, all I can see for the to find out.
future is a barren land ruled
by corvids and predators,
and when there is no other
creature to predate they will
disappear too. How very sad
for our future generations.
C. E. Bamforth,
West Yorkshire
country life and sports and was
fortunate to speak to many of
them. We were reminded by Mr LEARN A CRAFT
Jacoby and guests that we need Is fieldcraft a dying art?
to take great care with what we
post on social media.
Like all ambassadors, it’s not
what we say but how we say it and
present it in the right context.
J. Smith, by email
... AND MUCH MORE!
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 11

Country Diary
Elderflowers and strawberries, tennis and trout, but this has not been
a proper English summer because the swallows have failed to arrive
A
ccording to the BBC news,
a potentially deadly heatwave,
caused by a plume of hot air
from the Sahara, is heading our
way. I’ve just watered far too many potted
plants around our garden, most of them
desperate for a drink after what feels like
the hottest day of the year so far.
This week, I have noticed a big influx
of painted lady butterflies, their pretty
wings faded and tatty after journeying here
on the warm winds blowing in from north
Africa. These visitors are most welcome in
our garden. The reason why it is teaming
with purples and pinks, yellows, oranges
and reds isn’t only because I’m a sucker
for pretty flowers. It’s because I like doing
my bit to help pollinating insects, whose
populations — according to the gloomiest
reports — are in global freefall.
There is a question on migrants that
I have heard, and asked, repeatedly this
year: where are all the swallows? I’ve been
chewing this over with ecologist friends at
the GWCT since late April, when it became
apparent that these beloved harbingers of
summer seemed virtually absent from the
river meadows along the Avon Valley, where
the skies are usually peppered with them
in late spring. Perhaps they are late arriving,
we mused. So we waited. And we waited,
and then it was May, then it was June
and the swallows have barely shown.
Biodversity
The river Avon and its floodplain
is internationally recognised for its
enormous biodiversity. It’s designated
as a Special Area of Conservation and is
strictly protected under the EU’s Habitats
Directive. This landscape is one of
botanically rich meadows, where the main
river and myriad water channels, pools,
scrapes and puddles ensure that there
is always a bountiful supply of mud for
swallows to build their nests.
A lot of the meadows and marshes are
grazed, as they have been for generations,
by cattle and horses, which attract vast
numbers of flying insects, hence lots of
swallow food. This year, I’ve had more
horsefly bites than I care to remember.
On one very special farm, the tenant
12 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
The swallows, beloved
harbingers of summer,
are notably absent from
British gardens this year
breeds Percherons, a sturdy French kind
of draught horse originally bred for war.
There are tightly munched paddocks,
quaking hay meadows and old damp
pastures full of rushes and meadowsweet
and riddled with the divots of beef cattle.
“The blue skies
are most welcome
but eerily quiet
without the blue-
and-white birds”
His few arable fields — still worked by Shire
horses — are a flowery joy and the oat fields
are ablaze with corn marigolds.
With the long gravel tracks that still get
crunched by carriage and cartwheels, the
rose-covered thatched cottages, the old
schoolhouse and ramshackle open-fronted
barns and outbuildings where lambs play
and domestic geese hiss, it feels like a
bygone age. But this very swallow-friendly
farm has been virtually devoid of them this
year and not a single pair has bred.
Global migration is a hazardous survival
strategy for birds. The type of timeless
English landscape that I’ve just described
suits swallows but they still need to get here
Mike Short
to breed. Extreme weather events on their
wintering grounds affect food availability
and increasing human-derived challenges
encountered along their flyways and
stopover sites can prove cataclysmic.
I have heard that this year’s swallow
no-show could be linked to winter
droughts in Kenya; to extensive flooding
in Mozambique; to the increasing use of
mist-nets strewn along the north coast
of Egypt to capture swallows and other
passerines birds for food; and to the
widespread, unregulated use of highly
toxic agrochemicals, banned in the EU
but ‘given’ to poor African crop growers.
I don’t think anyone really knows what
went wrong for our returning swallows this
year, but it was probably a combination
of things. Yes, we’ve had elderflowers and
strawberries, and tennis and trout, but
this hasn’t been a true English summer for
me; how can it be without swallows? Like
the painted ladies, the warm blue skies I’m
seeing now are most welcome. But they’re
so eerily quiet without the darting blue-and-
white birds with the long tail streamers.
Mike Short is an ecologist at the
GWCT. He is a keen angler, deerstalker
and forager and helps to run a wild bird
roughshoot in Wiltshire.
GETTY IMAGES
 Alan Edwards is Conservation Manager at Bywell, a Purdey gold award estate in Northumberland

Gamekeeper
We are under attack from so-called ‘experts’ telling us why our sport
is wrong. It’s time we started to fight back by selling our own expertise

A
recent invitation to fish for
salmon caused me to reflect
on the state of our industry.
The trip to the river Tweed was
a dream that ended in a nightmare. I was
fishing in low water conditions and, as it
turned out, my only chance of a fish was
ruined by my fumbled casting.
Examining what went wrong the expert I
was fishing with pointed out some problems
with my line-and-rod combination. Later
that day I went on to the internet to search
for a replacement line. My search stopped
abruptly when, using an app that matched
spey lines to my chosen rod manufacturer,
I came to the last step of a rather complex
process that presented me with the final
choice: ‘expert’ or ‘novice’? I couldn’t help
thinking how the word ‘expert’ was so easily
attached, and what the implications are
when applied to our industry.
All gamekeepers will have been following
the recent attacks on our business by self-
proclaimed ‘wildlife experts’. Among them,
media presenters have the perfect platform
to launch any manner of propaganda
dressed up as an ‘expert view’. The public
seems to have some sympathy for the
themed attacks on shooting and the land
management that helps deliver it. These
experts have all the answers— or do they?
What is it they are actually expert about?
Do they know the complex set of
circumstances that help deliver biodiversity
on my patch? Are they experts on every
management technique I deploy? No, would
be my guess. I do not speak the language
of someone educated at university; my
“Managers need to be experts in every
aspect of the ecosystem we work in”
knowledge of Latin is scant, but is it
important? Do I have the time to study
some rare and unusual flora and fauna
of the Galapagos Islands?
No, but I feel I’m an expert in my own
field and yes, that’s self proclaimed.
The problem is I have no idea how
to project my expertise to the public.
I’m unequipped to be seen by some as
an expert, especially when I have no
Checking a tunnel trap; snaring is one of the many aspects of Alan’s job in which he is the expert
mechanism, except my own interest,
to gain further education. When I worked
in the uplands I had a vision that one day
a centre for excellence could be created,
to provide an opportunity to engage with
experts from a vast array of like-minded
organisations to share and absorb new and
differing perspectives and knowledge.
It would give a chance to learn about
detailed parts of our own estate that is
hidden from our daily radar — ferns, for
instance, or moths, or other invertebrate
life. Equally, members of, say, Natural
England could have been given a detailed
lecture and be persuaded to take part in
controlled heather burning.
However, my aspirations for higher
education have never been realised. Though
all this might already exist in our colleges
and scientific organisations, none of it
can to deliver what is really needed. We
need to be equipped, one and all, with the
knowledge to convince the general public
and some politicians that the countryside
is safe in our hands.
The attacks by experts that I read
so much about have no respect for our
experience. As an expert in my field I
have burning desires to learn more about
the habitats I work in. The complexity
of a moorland habitat is eclipsed by the
challenges and issues in the lowland
environment — this I have learned on
my gamekeeping journey.
We have become experts at producing
game but we are still under attack. Our
arguments need to be strengthened and
our managers need to be experts in every
aspect of the ecosystem we all work in.
Rebuffed
How we get to this is another matter.
I have been rebuffed more than once for
airing my views. I can understand that the
financial constraints on delivering a scheme
so broad and radical could have damaging
impacts on some, but this should not
become a reason for it not to happen. Time
is a great constraint and many would feel
it’s impossible to fit in further knowledge
gathering, but even the smallest amount
of uptake would make a huge difference.
Perhaps if we were seen as the ‘experts’
media-based attacks would fall on stony
ground and the public and politicians would
seek our expert views.
With all that said, I made my choice
as an ‘expert’ and a new fishing line duly
arrived. Now for the opportunity to see
if this research will deliver the desired
results — or will I need to think again?
D. MOORE

14 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Timeless Elegance

687EELL FIELD
This gun will grace the finest shooting occasion.
Elegantly adorned with game scene engraving
with traditional scroll also available.
Prices from £6,495

695 FIELD
Features highly detailed, deep relief, scroll
engraving and grade 3 walnut.
Prices from £4,145

486 PARALLELO
A beautifully proportioned, round action,
side by side with proven reliability.
Prices from £4,495

www.beretta.com
BER0818TE

FOR FURTHER PRODUCT INFORMATION AND DETAILS

OF YOUR LOCAL STOCKIST PLEASE CALL GMK ON
01489 587500 OR VISIT WWW.GMK.CO.UK
 Gundogs
Can a
cocker
cut it on
the peg?
Has Ed Wills taken on too much in trying to train his cocker to be
a peg dog? With the right approach it can be done, say our experts
C
ome here you horrible
thing!” The shout echoed
across the fields as a brown
blur tore through the dewy
grass with a lead and wooden peg
rattling behind it.
I would love to report this was
another Gun’s experience but alas,
it was my disobedient dog. It was a
frosty December morning some years
ago and, as I watched my then two-
year-old cocker, Bubble, disappear
into the mist, I couldn’t help
wondering whether I had the wrong
dog for the job. Perhaps I should just
join the beating line.
H. MITCHELL / S. FARNSWORTH / A. HOOK / A. SYDENHAM / BRIDGEMAN ARTS LIBRARY
My father has been wary of having
spaniels as peg dogs ever since he had
a springer called Bundle. Bundle’s
first love was chasing deer and more
than once he’s told me about people
he once counted as friends who no
longer send him Christmas cards as
a result of Bundle tearing off through
their drives and ruining the day.
Bubble, though not related to
Bundle in any way, and certainly not
nearly as wild, has a few similar traits.
Accordingly, my uncouth father refers
to my little chocolate-coloured dog
as“the flying turd”. “Get a Lab,” he
said one evening after I vented my
16 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
frustration about the dog, “much
better on the peg.”
For the next few months, I thought
hard about it. I have always enjoyed
my shooting and there have been
days when it would have been much
better if I hadn’t been constantly
concerned that Bubble was about
Ellena Swift’s
young cocker,
Sika, is destined
to be a peg dog
to roar off. Then one afternoon
I was at my grandparents’ house
and came across an old copy of
Shooting Times with a piece by Peter
Moxon. “The gundog question is
one of temperament,” wrote the
acknowledged expert, “not only
of the dog but of the owner.”
This gave me a little hope in
the sense that, if I could alter my
temperament slightly, Bubble would
work better for me. It was worth a go.
Shouted and screamed
Moxon’s words came back to me one
morning when Bubble was halfway
through a particularly mournful song
on one drive and I felt frustration
bubbling up after missing two
partridges on the trot. I might have
shouted and screamed but instead
I quietly took her aside and distracted
her with a half-eaten ham sandwich I
had in my coat. It worked to an extent.
Admittedly, if Bubble had been less
loveable I might have felt differently.
But she is loved by so many — on and
off the field — that I felt obliged to stick
with her.
Reading more about cockers,
in attempting to understand my
own, I learned that their popularity

Cocker spaniels were
originally bred for
hunting woodcock
in the British sporting world has been
growing since the 1920s. And the
cocker has won best in show at Crufts
more than any other breed. Initially
bred for hunting woodcock — hence
the name — and driving game towards
the Guns, cockers are now used in
a wide variety of jobs in shooting.
They have developed a tendency
to adapt to more facets of our sport
“There is no reason why a cocker spaniel
can’t make a cracking little peg dog”
than originally intended. So you
could say we have developed and
nurtured the breed into becoming
something much more suited to the
peg nowadays than they were in
decades gone by.
Naturally busy
At this year’s Game Fair I had
a drink with Ellena Swift, our regular
gundog trainer in Shooting Times, and
asked her thoughts on the cocker-on-
the-peg conundrum. She replied that
she is no stranger to training a cocker
for the peg. “They are very versatile
little dogs that can turn a paw to
almost anything. However, they are
naturally ‘busy’ and normal peg dog
attributes are not something that
come easily to them. So it is all down
to the handler to instil the basics first.”
I then spoke to Jeremy Hunt
of Fenway Labradors, whose feelings
were a little more mixed. “Steadiness
is usually the big issue. The obvious
reason is that cockers are primarily
hunting and flushing dogs,” he said.
“I always feel rather sorry for them
because their mind is supposed to be
focused on being totally composed,
while their heart is where the action
is in the beating line.”
Being a peg dog is a job that
requires three key attributes:
retrieving, sitting on a peg calmly
and — something that Bubble fails
on constantly — being quiet. Every
once in a while you hear a subtle
whining down the line that increases
in volume to the kind of soulful
singing that would rival some of
the former X Factor contestants.
This noise is not only an annoyance
to most Guns but it also makes the
owner look a complete fool at training
said dog. If you are thinking about
whether the whining is due to the
dog’s unhappiness, Andrew Wylie —
another Shooting Times contributor
Ed and Bubble — who is behaving quite angelically for a change — out shooting in December 2018
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 17
Gundogs
of old — said: “The cocker’s spirit is so
resilient that it is almost impossible for
you to dampen it on a shooting day. Its
principle is to please the alpha.”
The whining is a signal that the
dog is so eager to get going that all its
energy comes out in sound.
But according to Ellena, this
noisiness can be cured quite
effectively through early handling.
She says the key is focus on the
basics first. “Sit and heel will almost
certainly be the biggest challenge
the handler faces. This entails
steadiness, quiet and a willingness
to remain at the handler’s side unless
instructed otherwise.”
The cocker is an excitable dog
and its happy disposition and
continuously wagging tail have
earned it the nickname ‘the merry
cocker’. Handling this ‘busy-natured’
dog and calming everything down is
one way of ensuring that it can thrive
and stop the sound problems.
Hunting ability
Retrieval of shot birds is one of the peg
dog’s main responsibilities. Thirty or
40 yards out is the usual distance for
a bird to hit the ground and cockers,
with their natural hunting ability,
are very capable of finding those
birds. However, a large January cock
pheasant may cause a problem due
to the size of the cocker.
Bubble is quite a small dog but she
amazed me last season by retrieving
a large running cock pheasant. I have
trained her with larger dummies that
are a challenge to pick-up to prepare
her for the weight of the bird, and
that gives her confidence to do it
 The eyes have it:
a soulful spaniel
is hard to resist

in the field when tested. However,
another issue when training cockers
to retrieve birds from the peg is that
it is against their nature.
“[The cocker] is bred to hunt,
quarter and look in thick cover, so
while they will hunt for lost birds well,
normally a Gun will be sending their
dog from the peg rather than walking
out to hunt it,” explained Ellena.
“Controlled distance handling can
me, strive for. I have seen plenty
of what I thought were level-headed
dogs tied to the peg more out of fear
and uncertainty than anything else.
Labradors are the most common
dog in the line, closely followed by
well-trained springers and retrievers.
Cockers are naturally excitable so to
sit in the same spot fo
20 minutes — is a big a
be done, providing th
However, I would caution every
budding cocker owner that it is not
an easy road and it takes a lot of
time and effort. For a beginner, the
rewards are sweet if you accomplish
it. But if you are not willing to put in
the extra hours, don’t be surprised
to see your peg and lead vanish after

“The cocker’s spirit is so resilient th

it is almost impossible to dampen i
a shooting day. It’s principle is to pl
be a challenge for them as they would
rather hunt every inch of ground
to the fall of a bird instead of running
in a straight line.”
This may not be ideal but, with
plain-sight training and using
your arm and body to position the
direction the dog should be taking, it
should make a beeline for the dummy.
A proven peg dog is one that can sit
by the Gun without a lead tethering it.
It is the level most owners, including
Bubble proudly retrieves a January cock
pheasant that is extremely heavy to carry
with the right training
of perseverance.
“Some are ready at
others aren’t ready un
three years,” said Elle
take them out on a lea
that introducing them
sounds will do them g
is create a very frustra
hasn’t learned self con
The key to overcom
it little by little and int
slowly. If they can’t ha
back a step and start a
Ellena finished our
conversation by sayin
the foundations of tra
are solid and the hand
takes their time, there
reason they can’t mak
cracking little peg do
Despite his earlier
misgivings, Jeremy
agreed: “Ultimately, I
Ed wouldn’t swap
all about the dog. The
Bubble for any other
cocker in the right han
dog in the world
can make a peg dog.”

18 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 Pigeon shooting
Fast, exciting
A field of stubble waits in the misty dawn and
the woodies come into the decoys, making a
busy morning for Simon Garnham
I
mpenetrable dawn mist hung
heavy in the coastal lanes.
The world slept in a murky
dreamland. The headlights
from my pickup struggled to cut
through the spectral vapours; steam
rose from the estuary, smothering
the floodplains in a blanket of dense
cloud. The earth exhaled, preparing
for another stifling summer’s day.
I wound my way through the back
roads to remote Freelands Farm,
stomping ground of my gamekeeper
friend Liam Fearis. Over the weekend
he’d texted using eight of my favourite
words: “Are you available for a bit of
shooting?” Like the Pontiff and his
denomination, Liam already knew
the answer. Especially when he added
that by his reckoning 1,000 pigeons
had hit his landlord’s rapeseed field
before harvest and he knew exactly
the spot to get under them.
A night of lamping — the last
sweep to prepare for the arrival of
D. ROGERS
my poults — seemed a good excuse
to push through into dawn. I could
20 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
then start the crop protection at first
Constructing the hide
light. Two foxes had been despatched on the golden stubble
before mist stopped play, allowing
half an hour for strong coffee and
toast. Now Liam and I rolled down
fields of golden stubble and out to the
very edges of cultivatable land to find
a spinney that the pigeons had been
using as a staging post on their way
to massacre the crops.
Wild partridges
We were delayed by errant pheasants
intent on escape from their release
pen and we took 20 minutes to walk
them back in as the gloom cleared.
Liam runs a fine little driven shoot,
the Old Church in Brightlingsea,
and prides himself on his explosive
partridges, many of which are wild
greys. As a gamekeeper, game dealer,
plasterer and father, he’s a busy man
and I was sorry he couldn’t join me
in the hide.
“Don’t want to show you up,
mate,” he offered by way of a brutally
accurate excuse. He’s a far better shot

than me, though I’d never admit
it to his face.
While Liam finished off his
sheepdog impression at the release
pen, I reconnoitred the edge of a
mixed deciduous spinney some 100m
long and 30m deep. Behind it lay
marshes and the crop of rapeseed.
In front was a 40-acre field
of barley stubble, striped
like corduroy, with row
upon row of swathed
straw running
away up the hill
to the farmyard.
The rapeseed was
thick and high,
making it impossible
to shoot over but
clearly delicious to the
pigeons. However, with
only the estuary behind it,
possible approaches for the birds
were very limited and we hoped I
would be able to pull the wily woodies
into range with an irresistible pattern
of decoys as they passed over the
stubble on their way to the rapeseed.
St Andrew’s cross
The air seemed alive with the sound
of contented roosting pigeons
cooing in the dawn light as I slung
up a net hide and added offcuts
of sycamore, elder and oak for a bit
of realism. With no wind and three
possible directions of approach to my
front, I opted for a pattern of decoys
rather similar to a St Andrew’s cross,
hoping that whichever direction
they chose to come from, the pigeons
would be greeted by a tempting
funnel into my killing area. I put the
magnet central to the cross using
frozen birds, one of which flung
off as I fired up the spinner.
It wouldn’t stay frozen
“The air seemed alive with
the sound of contented
roosting pigeons cooing
in the dawn light ”
for very long — it was
already 24ºC and rising.
By 6am all was in place
and birds began to move. Corvids
came first, a dozen jackdaws right
on the edge of range, approaching
out of the gloom high to my front. I
swung through speculatively and was
rewarded with a confidence-boosting
thump as one fell heavily into the
pattern. Liam nodded approvingly
before setting off to deliver poults
to a smart shoot owned by a peer of
the realm. “Can’t be late for a lord,” he
explained. “Keep up the good work.”
And with that he was off into the mist.
I was left in silence; only the
gentle whirr of the magnet broke the
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 21
Pigeon shooting
stillness. Visibility was down to 60
yards in the lingering gloom and I
had to check my watch to be sure the
sun really had crested the horizon.
It made for a magical and thrilling
situation — all the more so once birds
began to move.
For an hour I would rate it as some
of the most memorable shooting I’ve
ever enjoyed. Pigeons appeared from
all directions without warning and
immediately in range. Having no time
to think always improves my shooting
and I had 14 in the bag from 19 shots
before 7.30am, adding each bird
to the pattern. By then all the mist
had gone and the thermometer was
rising fast but I was excited — at this
rate I could break the elusive 100 by
mid-afternoon. It was like an excellent
flight on the foreshore or over a pond
— fast, exciting and frantic.
With the mist burned away,
birds continued to come in close,
aiming for the spinney and drawn
to the apparent safety of my pattern.
Some shots were straight above me,
accelerating fast as I appeared from
Tess the Labrador
is already feeling
the heat
Pigeon shooting

the hide. I found myself in complete an alternative route to the rapeseed.

agreement with Tom Payne (From
woodpigeon to game birds, 24 July)
about the necessity of reacting,
selecting a bird and not panicking.
It was truly superb sport,
with birds breaking at all angles
like springing teal or partridges
starbursting over a hedge. Tess was
kept busy, burrowing into the ditch
and nosing through scrub to retrieve
the fallen. I did the honours if the
birds fell in the pattern, propping
their heads on whittled sticks to add
what Archie Coats called ‘compound
interest’ to the gathering ‘flock’. The
Then I glassed the surrounding
fields to check for better sites. But
nothing stirred. Back in the hide it
was baking hot and time to slap on
some suncream and slop on the least
tactical headgear I own — a wide-
brimmed white cricket hat.
At this point Liam returned,
delighted to take the opportunity to
explain why pigeons were keeping
away. “You’re wearing a sombrero the
size of a helicopter landing pad and
the colour of a warning flare, mate,”
he observed sympathetically. I was
just glad he hadn’t found me snoring.

“Pigeons time movements to coincide with

periods when sportsmen are distracted” Some shot birds are kept on ice in a cool bag

magnet needed moving to one side to
allow space in the centre of the killing
area and, as numbers grew, I began
to gather birds into a cool bag.
With burning sunlight came a lull.
The first of the combines cranked
into life at the distant farm and
a baler turned lines of straw into
neat cylinders across the estuary
behind. From about 10.30am not
a bird moved in the stillness of the
baking heat. Even a comfort break,
packed lunch and coffee didn’t make
a difference. I’m surely not alone in
thinking that birds tend to time their
movements to coincide with periods
when sportsmen are distracted but,
on this occasion, drinking coffee and
watering the hedge didn’t do the trick.
Tess and I left the decoys to make
sure the wily woodies hadn’t found
A short siesta got the better of me as
the action lulled but fortunately I’d
heard Liam approaching and pulled
myself together before he arrived.
Flyblown
Dreams of a century were fading
and shot birds were at risk of getting
irretrievably flyblown so I ran the
bag — 29 — up to Liam’s chiller. On
my return, the action picked up
as a cooling onshore breeze
encouraged birds on to the wing.
I was pleased to have two dead
in the air at once as a group of four
drifted from right to left straight
over the pattern, and I remembered
what I’d been taught on the clays
about swinging through the rear bird,
firing and continuing the swing to
catch up with the first.
Several birds were young and
betrayed their innocence with
confused reactions to a first shot,
turning into the pattern rather
than handbrake-turning away as
their older brethren chose to do.
Still, I found myself missing some
straightforward birds with the first
shot, which certainly spoilt my ratios.
At 2pm the heat got the better of both
dog and Gun so we packed up and
counted the bag.
A satisfying 34 birds gleaned
from 77 shots now fill up my
freezer and will make excellent
barbecue material in the coming
weeks. It had been a good flight with
moments of really excellent sporting
challenge. Pigeons in the mist —
a first for me and hopefully
not for the last time.

Another added to the bag,

which reached 34 in total

Tess is in her element,

making another good
retrieve across the stubble

22 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 Ear defenders
Don’t risk it!
Shooting may damage your hearing
and the effect is cumulative, but which
ear defenders are best — plugs or muffs?
Perhaps both, advises Matt Cross
M
y first serious taste of
noise-induced hearing
loss was delivered by
Dean from DHL. Dean
has been part of the team working on
the house I’m building, bringing pipe
bends, gutter clips, flooring samples,
plasterboard screws and other things.
Dean has no inclination to DIY
so when a relative gave him a power
planer and a sander he passed them
on to me. The sander was great but the
first time it touched a board it emitted
a screech fit to horrify a banshee. I
battered on, planing down board
M. BEEDIE / D. MOORE / P. QUAGLIANA / SYKES MEDIA / GETTY IMAGES
after board. Twenty minutes later
when I switched it off I went to turn on
my radio and realised it was already
playing, but the sound was deadened
and drowned out by the intense
ringing in my ears. This was NIHL,
noise-induced hearing loss. Luckily,
it was the temporary form and my
hearing was soon restored.
Hearing loss can be temporary
or permanent, it can build up slowly
over years or be caused by a single
incident. Constant exposure to loud
Duck and goose shooters
need to be closely tuned to
their environment
24 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
noise can make the experience
of being in noisy environments less
unpleasant, but the human ear can
neither toughen up to resist damage
nor regrow the tiny and sensitive cells
that are being harmed. It is a serious
issue for anyone who shoots.
Long-term exposure
The science of sound is quite
complicated; how loud the sound is,
how long it lasts, how near it is, how
much it is contained and how often
it is repeated are all considerations.
It is certainly not as simple as saying
that firing a .22 round produces 134
decibels (dB), any long-term exposure
to sound over 85dB risks hearing
damage, so firing a .22 risks damaging
your hearing.
To summarise, shooting shotguns
and centrefire rifles without measures
to control noise will damage your
hearing. It’s only a question of how
much shooting and how much
damage. In a few cases it will be the
sudden, complete loss of hearing
that big game hunter Jim Corbett
You can choose between custom-made
plugs or muffs the size of a spaniel’s head
experienced when a rifle was fired
right next to his ear.
But for most it will be an insidious
creep, damage that goes unnoticed
until a partner points out they have
to shout for you to hear them or the
constant whine of tinnitus prevents
you from sleeping.
It is well documented that people
who take part in recreational shooting
have higher levels of hearing loss
than those who do not. This tends
to take the form of a permanent loss
of the ability to detect high-pitched
sounds, which makes it hard to hear
the sounds ‘s’ ‘th’ and ‘v’. Perhaps
unexpectedly, right-handed shooters
tend to get the most damage in their
left ear and vice versa.
The answer to my deafening
construction dilemma was simple:
a cheap but very effective pair of ear
TWITTER POLL
When it comes to ear defenders,
do you use?
41% In ear 42% Over ear
17% Sorry, say that again...
follow us @shootingtimes Respondents: 402
defenders. On a building site the issue
is clear-cut — wearing them costs me
a few minutes of Ken Bruce’s wit and
wisdom but it solves the problem of
being deafened while also reducing
my exposure to Jeremy Vine. But for
shooters the issue is not so clear.
There is a world of different ear
defenders out there, from £9 muffs
the size of a spaniel’s head on eBay
to tiny custom-made plugs that
filter sounds, letting in the good and
keeping out the bad.

Mandatory
On every clay ground I have ever
known, ear defenders are both
mandatory and universal. But on
a clay ground there’s not much to
hear beyond gunshots, advice and
chat, all of which are best excluded
from your ears.
Game shooters seem to be
becoming more diligent about
wearing ear protectors. Year after
year the number of Guns standing
on pegs without something to protect
their ears seems to diminish. They
are losing a little more, however — the
cry of the beaters, the drumming of
wings, some of the atmosphere, if not
the ability to help identify quarry.
Given the ability of snazzy modern
ear protection to filter out harmful
sounds and leave in pleasant ones;
given the number of shots fired and
the high sound output of shotguns,
the argument seems overwhelming.

Modern ear
protection
filters out the
bad but keeps
in the good
Ear defenders

Where the argument seems a little

less clear is in those situations where
the shooter needs to be closely tuned
to the environment. The wildfowler
who needs to be alert to subtle
differences in calls or the stalker who
needs to be a living part of the forest,
for example.
Perhaps my budget and experience
put them out of my reach but I have
never found a pair of electronic ear
defenders that did not have an effect
on my ability to be utterly immersed
in an environment. Every pair of
every type seems either to mess
about with sound in an undesirable
way or at least to be an irritating and
uncomfortable presence.

Single shot
However, as mentioned 85dB is the
point at which a sound can damage
your hearing. Almost any sporting
shotgun will exceed this sound level,
with a 12-bore typically generating
roughly 156dB at the user’s ear. A
single shot fired at a duck or a goose
will harm your hearing. Add up all
the shots fired over many years and
the damage may well be significant.
It is for the individual to decide
whether they are willing to accept
that damage, but without hearing
protection there will be damage done.
With rifles it is is more complicated.
The widespread use of sound
moderators on rifles has persuaded
many users that the moderator alone
provides adequate protection for
their hearing. In 2004 the Forestry
Commission asked the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) to look at
the noise levels that its rangers were
exposed to when they fired rifles with
and without moderators.
They tested nine centrefire rifles
in six different calibres with four
different moderators. Only one
The make-up of the external auditory canal means using both types of ear protection is safest
moderator reduced the sound to
a level below 140dB. In every other
case the sound output from the rifle
was still harmful at the ear of the
person firing. It was less harmful than
without a moderator but it was still
capable of damaging their hearing.
Critical
Only the combination of ear
protection and a moderator could
be relied on to reduce sound levels to
a point where they were not harmful.
Modern moderators are better than
those on the market 15 years ago but it
would be wise to check very carefully
whether they are going to reduce the
sound level below the critical 140dB.
The HSE boffins found that
the performance of earmuff-type
defenders was very variable — small
irregularities of fit,
knocks from recoil
and a number of
other factors had
a marked effect
on how much
sound got through to the user’s ear.
The problems are so significant that
the American Speech-Language-
Hearing Association recommends
protecting ears both muffs and plugs.
I deplore the modern tendency
to boss grown men and women
around ‘for their own good’ and
what you decide to do with your
hearing is your business. I can
understand the reluctance of some
people to shove things in or on their
ears but the fact is that, without using
ear protection, most gunshots will
harm your hearing.
The only questions are how
much they will harm it and whether
that harm will affect the quality
of your life.

“Tests showed that

the performance
of earmuff-type Already mandatory on
the clay ground, hearing
defenders was protection is seen
increasingly in the field as
very variable” Guns get the message

26 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 W lk d h ti

React — don’t rush

With the grouse season about to get under way, Tom Payne
gives some advice on how to prepare yourself for the day

You need to be really on your

mettle to shoot wild birds
such as partridge or grouse

I GROUSE
n this series we’ve looked
at how to help you become
a better walked-up Shot. It
cannot be said enough that
when it comes to rough shooting,
understanding your quarry and
your surroundings, combined with
your general fieldcraft, are in many
respects far more important than
your actual shooting ability.
Regardless of how well you shoot,
if you don’t think like the bird you
are trying to shoot, you will always
get caught out. Walked-up shooting
E. WEATHERSPOON / G. DOWNING / A. HOOK / L. CAMPBELL / A. SYDENHAM
Those who have been fortunate enough
to shoot walked-up grouse will know it’s
both very testing and very special. Just
like many of us who start their game-
shooting careers roosting a pigeon or
being lucky enough to get involved on
a beaters’ day, I strongly believe your
Ideally, your first
grouse should be
walked-up, not driven
first grouse should never be driven
but walked-up. I say this because it’s
the purest form of grouse shooting.
Not only that, but as far as walked-up
shooting goes, it really is as good as it
gets and should be at the top of every
game shooter’s buck lis.

covers a wide range of game and

different situations, and this is why
so many love this fantastic form
of shooting above all others.
We’ve looked at dealing with
pheasants in wooded ground (Rough
and ready, 5 June), the sudden
surprise of the elusive but special
woodcock and the excitement of
stalking ducks on a flightpond or a
splash (Elements of surprise, 3 July).
In this final part of the series, we
will find out how to master the art
of shooting grouse and partridges.

28 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 Walked-up shooting

ARE YOU FIT ENOUGH?

Let’s be completely straight. This is not
a gentle stroll around the hedgerows of
the Home Counties or a meander around
the woodlands of the Cotswolds, this is a
yomp through some of the toughest and
most challenging terrain. If you want to
make the most of it you have to be fit —
not ‘pub fit’ but actually fit to cope with
heathery hills.
You will be covering serious ground
up glen and hillside, walking through
heavy heather and in some cases
boggy ground. If you are sweating like
a horse, panting and blowing when that
Shooting
opportunity arises, you will be about
grouse means
as much use with your musket as a pug
dealing with
retrieving a running cock bird. You may
tough terrain
laugh but forewarned is forearmed.

KNOW YOUR LIMITS

Grouse are clever birds. You may get that
odd lone territorial cock bird that will sit
tight and burst in front of you, offering
a nice straightforward shot, but on the
whole you will be dealing with coveys.
These could number from four to 10 birds
on average. When that covey bursts in
front of you and you witness that initial
Don’t shoot for the sake of it — wild Grouse will present you
shots are pointless. If you’re lucky to fell with challenging shots
a bird from the covey, there is every
chance you will only have broken a wing.
Knowing your distances is so
important. The difficulties come on open
ground, as you have limited reference
points and you have to make the decision

“Be prepared for various shots and

angles — they are wild birds. The grouse
has the full armoury of flying displays”
burst of speed, watching them barrel roll,
twist and turn away from you, it’s hard not
to get excited, regardless of experience.
When you are walking-up with dogs
working in front, you have to stay alert.
In many cases if the dogs work well and
within 10 to 20 yards of the line, you will
have time to shoot. So many walked-up
grouse are missed because the shooter
ends up trying for birds that have ended
up too far away.
If the dogs are kept close
you will have plenty of
time to shoot
within a split second of birds being on the
wing. With a covey that bursts in front,
your first shot should be at around 20
to 30 yards. If they break at 40 yards,
don’t bother.
Many birds are missed off line and
with a quartering bird — a very common
shot in walked-up shooting — this will
generally be high and in front. Don’t rush
as the birds break, just react. I always say
trust what you see. If you hesitate and try
to force the shot, it will all go wrong. Be
controlled but instinctive.
Ideal chokes would be half and half —
they are the perfect all-round chokes for
all walked-up shooting and many forms
of game shooting. They will pattern well
at 20 to 30 yards but hold the shot string
for birds that are slightly further away.
Picking a bird is easier said than done
and, from experience, the best way is
to choose the bird you first lock eyes on.
Don’t ever let your first thought be a right-
and-left or you will be doomed. Focus
on the first bird — get that shot in then,
if the opportunity arises, take a second.
Be prepared for various shots and
angles — they are wild birds and will
behave like it. They could cut back on
the shooter and take the shooting line,
offering low crossing shots. The grouse
has the full armoury of flying displays,
so don’t think you’re only going to be
shooting a going-away bird with its
afterburners on.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 29

Walked-up shooting

P I C K A PA R T R I D G E

Walking-up partridges in its traditional
form is not as common these days and
will mainly be part of a normal walked-up
day. Walking September stubbles is rare
and in many cases a walked-up partridge
day will coincide with a gundog trial or
trialling practice day.
You will find yourself walking through
crops of kale, stubble turnips or some
form of green cover. If this is the case
you will need to be alert to what’s going
on, fully aware that coveys will jump in
front of you. However, on a classic rough
day a covey suddenly bursting out of a
hedgerow will catch you out unless you
focus and are ready for a surprise.
Yet again it’s back to the golden around the middle. This will naturally
rule of fieldcraft. Often a bursting covey move you to the outside of the covey for
will tend to break early and stay low to the the second bird, or to the front. My focus
ground, only gaining height if the birds is always middle first before I think about
have to cross an obstacle such as a hedge the outside of the covey.
or treeline.
When shooting partridges you must
be positive and, as with grouse, know
your distances. French partridges will
very rarely cut back and will generally
only offer the shooter going-away or
quartering shots and possibly the odd
crosser. The main thing is to focus on
picking a bird correctly.
My personal game plan is always to
take a bird from the back of the covey,

HOW WE PRACTISE

Getting to a clay ground and practising
for coveys is not an easy task. Grounds
that offer a walked-up covey situation
are few and far between. In an ideal world
you would be able to stand in front of a
Huntsman or a number of oscillating
traps, allowing you to focus on picking
a bird and then moving on to kill the
second. If the traps vary there is always
that element of surprise, allowing you to
practise keeping calm, staying focused
and making the correct bird selection.
One of my favourite ways to practise
that can really sharpen you up is to
shoot the broken bits off a clay. My
theory is that while you can shoot a
basic crosser or going-away bird, and
stay focused on killing that bird cleanly,
with a fragment of clay you have no
idea where it’s going. You can then stay
focused and react accordingly — it’s a
fantastic way of practising. Any form
of walked-up shooting offers variety in
“You can’t afford to be a one-trick
pony — variety is so important”
terms of quarry, speed and angle, so a
good game-based Sporting clay layout is
as good as anything. With walked-up or
rough shooting you can’t afford to be a
one-trick pony; variety when you practise
is so important.
It leaves me to say to everyone
who is looking forward to the season
ahead, preparing to pit their wits along
hedgerow, spinney, covert, water and
moorland, to put thought into the way
you practise, and think about your
situation and the quarry you will be
shooting. But most of all, the key to
walked-up or rough shooting is fieldcraft.
Understand the bird and its environment
and it will help you shoot to the best of
your ability, calmly and effectively.

Some testing clays

will give you the vital
practice you need

30 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 Gunmaking
Name tag or price tag?
We all admire the greats of gunmaking — but unknown artisans can
build you a superb gun at a fraction of the price, says Rachel Draper
I
s it important to have a well-
known name delicately
chiselled on to your gun? For
some Shots it certainly is. It
can be a symbol of wealth and status.
For others it may have long been a
dream to own ‘the best of the best’, or
perhaps it is the guarantee of quality
that’s theoretically synonymous with
the famous London gunmakers.
But high-end guns come with
sky-high price tags that many
people simply can’t afford. But the
reality is that lots of people could
afford a handmade English gun, of
exceptional quality, if they looked
beyond the M25.
A. SYDENAHAM / D. HADOKE / TAYLORMADE PHOTOGRAPHY
When investing in a gun from one
of the big names you are paying for
the brand, the factory, the shop and
the sales team. By going directly to a
smaller maker, often an individual
who’s devoted a lifetime to learning
the art of gunmaking, you are cutting
lots of those costs. As gun and rifle
finisher Ian Sweetman puts it, “the
brand doesn’t create and develop the
product, the craftsmen do”.
32 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
I have learned my appreciation
of quality guns from my father, who
has always aspired to own a London-
made Best gun. He currently shoots
with a Boss, I shoot with an F. T. Baker.
Two very different guns, but both
beautiful, elegant and very well made.
It would be wrong to compare the
two without highlighting the fact that
Thomas Boss is admired as one of the
best gunmakers in the world.
Pure delight
However, when it comes to the
enjoyment of a day on the peg with
an English gun, my Baker provides
me with a sense of pure delight that
wouldn’t be improved by a more
distinguished name.
Since the beginning of the modern
gunmaking trade, established
craftsmen have taken on apprentices.
Everyone has to start somewhere and
these apprentices often developed
into talented gunmakers themselves,
with curiosity and an ambitious drive
to be the best. This is how the trade
has developed.
Geoff Walker respectfully
handles his Joseph
Manton tubelock, made
in the early 1800s
In 1780 Joseph Manton, arguably
the most prominent man in
British gunmaking, started out as
an apprentice to two small-time
provincial makers in Grantham, first
John Edson then Edward Newton. Not
much is known about Newton, other
than that he trained four of the most
influential gunmakers of the Georgian
era, John Twigg, Robert Wogdon,
Joseph Manton and his brother John.
Newton is described in The Field
as “a provincial gunmaker whose
only legacy appears to have been the
workers he trained who subsequently
took his high standards with them
to London”. Once Manton left the
guidance of Newton, he worked with
his brother and made huge waves
within the industry, selling the finest
flintlocks from his Hanover Square
premises for the astronomical price
of 70 guineas.
Manton employed and trained
makers such as James Purdey,
Thomas Boss, Charles Lancaster,
William Moore and William Greener,
all of whom went on to establish their

Perfecting their
craft: Alex Torok
at Smith & Torok
own successful businesses. Henry
Atkin spent several years working
for Purdey, before moving to William
Moore then trading under his own
name. He kept a link to Purdey,
engraving ‘Henry Atkin (From
Purdey’s)’ on to his guns, promoting
himself as a Best London maker by
using an already established name.
Here we have an example of four
generations of gunmaking greats,
starting with Edward Newton.
Though not a recognised name,
he taught his prodigies the skills
The F. T. Baker gun
provides Rachel
Draper with ‘pure
delight’ on the peg
and techniques to create the guns
of quality that we marvel at today.
Spotlight
This shows that as time passes, names
will come and go; they will emerge
into the spotlight. When the new kid
on the block puts forward his ideas,
the elders may step back into the
history ledgers, content that they
have played their part in developing
and progressing the trade they love.
A name may be temporary,
a maker that was famous 100 years
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 33
Gunmaking
ago may not hold the same reputation
now. A craftsman of whom you have
not yet heard could become the next
big thing.
It is the ethos of top-quality work
that is distilled to apprentices through
the generations, combined with new
ideas and developments, that keeps
handmade English guns at the top
of the gunmaking game.
The traditional self-opening side-
by-side originated with Frederick
Beesley’s patented design that was
bought by James Purdey the Younger
in 1880, whom Beesley had previously
worked for as a stocker. Many of
today’s best-quality over-and-unders
are inspired by James Woodward’s
patented design of 1913.
Tomorrow’s giants
But enough about the past, let’s take
a look at the present and potentially
the future, at today’s talented
craftsmen. These solo makers and
small provincial businesses could
be the giants of tomorrow.
There is an eclectic pool of hugely
talented individuals that have put
in the time, commitment, blood,
sweat and tears to train their hands
and develop their skills. These
gunmakers, most of them at least,
“The true value of
a gun is determined
by how it was
made, not the name
engraved on it. The
quality remains”
will have worked for the big names,
apprenticing with top British firms.
However, like their predecessors,
such as young James Purdey,
Henry Atkin and Stephen Grant,
they were gripped by a desire to
work for themselves, in their own
environment, to their own rules.
Some wish to get away from the
hustle and bustle of London life,
others will make the jump to set
up on their own because of
aspirations to have their name
on the gun they studiously craft
and tirelessly toil over.
But these lone wolves don’t
leave their skills at the factory gates,
they take their knowledge and
artisan talents with them. Lee
Gunmaking
Lee Butler says
‘quality control’ is
the driving force
of his business
Butler describes ‘ultimate quality
control’ as the driving force to
start his own business. “When it
comes to gunmaking, being able to
micromanage every part of the build
ensures a product of top quality,”
he explains.
When Lee started gunsmithing
decades ago, many of the workers
could be there simply for a light
engineering job, with no love nor
interest in shooting. By setting up his
own business, Lee is able to control
each step and make sure every gun
that leaves his workshop is up to his
impeccable standards.
If you do your research and invest
some time into getting to know the
smaller businesses, the individual
craftsmen, you will come to see that
many offer the same standard of
quality as the Best London makers
that they trained with, but at a much
more appealing price. You would
not be paying for anything other
At Shooting Times contributor Diggory Hadoke’s Vintage Guns, you can be involved in every stage
34 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
than the parts and labour of the
makers themselves.
How many of the world’s best
gunmakers are still alive to build the
guns that bear their name? Imagine if
you could build your own gun, whose
name would you put on it? Diggory
Hadoke of Vintage Guns offers his
clients the chance to build their own
guns, by “selecting the best men in
the country to undertake each part
of the gunmaking process. The name
we put on the gun is the name of the
customer, who is involved at every
stage and becomes the gunmaker.”
Specialists
This is only possible with outworkers,
highly skilled craftsmen who work
for the trade. Most gunmakers
specialise in one of the seven steps
of gunmaking. If you were to seek
out the best of the best you could
build a gun that was the same
quality, potentially even better,
than any that sported an immediately
recognisable name.
While doing some research for this
piece, I read an incredibly interesting
book written by Vic Venters. Gun Craft
features a chapter on ‘The Unknown
Gunmaker’, about the extensive
career of Robert E. Turner. Bob
Turner, as he was more commonly
known, built guns for Thomas Boss,
William Evans, William Powell,
Holland & Holland, Westley Richards
and many others. He is renowned
for his exceptional work and is
considered one of the finest English
gunmakers of his time, yet many
don’t recognise his name. Turner only
built a handful of guns for himself,
engraving them ‘Turner Richards’.
It has always been common
for prestigious companies to use
outworkers and modest provincial
makers to build certain parts of
their guns. Firms such as Webley
& Scott have built guns for a number
of London names such as Joseph
Lang, William Evans and Holland
& Holland. I have often come across
Henry Atkin boxlocks with the
following engraved on the rib: ‘Shot
and Regulated by Henry Atkin’.
They bear a famous name but were
most likely built by a rural maker
far outside of London.
There is no doubt that Best
London guns are beautiful, exquisite
works of craftsmanship and well
worth investing in. However,
I believe that the true value of a gun
is determined by how it was made,
not the name engraved on it. Often
guns made by smaller companies
and individual makers are sold for
a fraction of the price, yet the quality
remains unquestionable.
References & quotes:
L W Butler Gunmaker,
West Wycombe Park House,
High Wycombe,
Buckinghamshire HP14 3AJ
Phone: 01494 533388
www.lwbutlergunmaker.com
Diggory Hadoke
Vintage Guns Ltd
Caynham Court,Caynham,
Shropshire SY8 3BJ
01584 878 485 / 07977 149 207
dig@vintageguns.co.uk
www.vintageguns.co.uk
Gun Craft: Fine Guns and
Gunmakers in the 21st Century
by Vic Venters
Image © Richard Faulks

version_3_2018/9
At BASC we look after a
membership of over 155,000 –
more than any other shooting
organisation in the UK
As a member you will
automatically receive:
• Liability, personal accident and legal
expenses insurance to protect you*
• Shooting opportunities for members
• Exclusive offers from trade members and
partners to save you money

And as a member you can also access

tailored additional** insurance covers for:
• Working dogs
• Guns and shooting equipment
• Shoot cancellation

And there is more...

To see the exclusive BASC member offers go
to basc.org.uk/membersoffers
To join BASC, visit basc.org.uk/join-basc or
call 01244 573 030 during office hours.
*Exclusions apply, see the BASC website for full details.
**Additional fees apply.
BASC is the trading name of The British Association for Shooting and Conservation
and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ref 311937.
The insurance aspect of your membership is a non-advised sale and includes
Insurance Premium Tax. BASC arranges insurance and the Insurer(s) provide it.
 Gundog training
The penny starts to drop
Now Sika has almost mastered the stop whistle, it’s time to move on
to using a dummy launcher to mimic falling game, says Ellena Swift
S
ika is coming on in leaps and
bounds and I am pleased to
say she is becoming a really
nice shooting companion.
She began some stop-whistle work in
my last article (Starting and stopping,
3 July) and is doing well with it but I
have given this a little rest for now.
S. TRINDER
I will still use the stop whistle as she
continues to learn what it means.
IN DETAIL
SIKA: PREPARING FOR THE EXERCISE
THIS WEEK I am going to introduce the
dummy launcher. I am lucky enough
to have a remote launcher system that
can launch four different dummies in
whichever direction I like. It’s common for
dogs to get really excited with a launcher.
The bang is slightly different from a gun,
being more of a sharp crack. It’s vital that
I ensure we are far away when she first
hears it and makes the right associations.
She has heard bangs before in the
distance but currently has no reason
to think they particularly mean anything.
So this time it’s important that, when
she hears a bang, she then sees the
dummy dropping. I set it up so the
dummies are dropping relatively close to
us to make the marks easy. Sika is steady
to thrown dummies but I still use a lead to
begin with. While I am pretty certain she
will be steady, I want to make sure there
are no accidents, with her running-in. If at
any point I feel her put tension on the lead
or look like she may move, I reset her up
— position her firmly by me — and make
her watch another dog pick-up the
dummy. Once I feel she has been sitting
nicely, and steadily watching a single
mark, I take my time and send her.
While I really want her to mark well and
it’s tempting to send her pretty quickly for
a falling dummy, this is unrealistic when
she becomes a peg dog. Most peg dogs
will rarely be required to move during a
drive unless there is a runner. Even in that
circumstance there is normally a picker-
up who should be clearing the runners
and leaving the dead birds for the Guns.
36 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
However, I am not doing any
specific stop-whistle exercise or she
— like any young dog — will start to
predict what we are doing and I do
not want her to become ‘sticky’.
She is only a couple of months away
from getting her first experience of a
real day’s shooting. Her introduction
will be slow, carefully monitored
and tailored to her. There is no way
Even if this is not the case, at her age
it’s unlikely we will be asking her to collect
runners this season, so it’s better if she
assumes that watching falling game
means being steady and patient, not
picking-up straight away.
After allowing her to watch other dogs
picking single marks and confident that
she is sitting nicely, I want to reward her
with a retrieve. I ensure that I only send
her for one that is quite easy and she has
clearly marked. I also make sure I take my
time. It’s important to imagine the drive
has ended — I have put my gun back in its
slip before trying to send her. I also make
sure there is only one out so she doesn’t
get confused and go hunting for others.
If when I started launching dummies
it became obvious the exercise was
overexciting her, I would have simply
popped her away and continued with
thrown dummies, possibly getting a
Sika on the peg next to Ellena while
dummies are landing around her
“Every dog is different — it’s important
to train at Sika’s pace, not mine”
to predict exactly how she will react
and every dog is different. It’s very
important to train at her pace, not
mine. When considering her final role
— a peg dog — I need to ensure she is
prepared for that. This will involve her
having a rock-steady sit and watching
a lot of game fall around her. She will
also need to be reliable, not swapping
birds and taking direction.
dummy-thrower and using a starter pistol
occasionally. She must not be rewarded
— sent for a retrieve — when she has
become overexcited and done anything
undesirable such as made a noise,
fidgeted, attempted to move or ignored
my commands. Fortunately, she kept
a level head and sat nicely.
With this exercise I only asked her to
pick up one mark when there was a single
dummy out. Obviously, in a real shooting
situation there is likely to be more than
one retrieve down and they will almost
certainly not all be for her. There is
nothing worse than shooting a bird and
going to send your own dog for it, only
to discover it has already been picked
by either a neighbouring Gun’s dog or a
picker-up. So I want to introduce harder
directional work for her. For example,
there is more than one dummy out and
they are relatively close together.
IN DETAIL

SIKA: MAKING
IT HARDER
TO START THIS LESSON I am going to make it as easy
to achieve success as possible. I have a perfect set-up
with a corner of a field. First I do two single marked
retrieves to the left and to the right. With the way the
fence runs it is very easy for a young dog to hold a line and
understand the direction I’m sending her in. To get it
wrong she would physically have to run all the way back
past me, so I could easily intervene. This is invaluable
when training on my own as I can keep control.
Once she has picked both as single marks, I throw two
out and let her watch both. I then take my time and line
her up. If she gets the first one right I will allow her to pick
the second. If she struggles or makes an attempt to go
to the wrong one, I simply start the exercise again.
She coped very well with these two so I decided
to make it slightly harder. I threw a third mark into
the open field not far behind me. I sent her for this one
first then chose one of the original left and right marks
to send her for. The third dummy I sent a different dog
for, again reinforcing the fact that not every retrieve
is hers, and she takes direction picking only what I ask
her, not what she chooses.
After a few weeks, if I feel she is coping with the two
exercises I have introduced — the launcher and multiple
retrieves work — I can then begin to combine the two
by launching four dummies at a time and selecting
which one she picks. We aren’t quite there yet, but it’s
something I am working towards.

Ellena sends Sika out for a dummy; in a shooting situation

there would be more than one retrieve and not all for her
 Gundog training
IN DETAIL
KEEPA: HOLDING HIS ENTHUSIASM
KEEPA HAS BEEN working and training
well alongside his blossoming career as
a stud dog. It is usually at this time of year
that I begin to notice a drop in enthusiasm
or drive in some of my dogs. With the
weather getting hotter, many dogs —
particularly the older ones — can start
to go a little ‘flat’. A bag of sand can only
be so exciting to a dog that is used to
working on the real thing.
So I am only doing one, sometimes
two, short sessions with him a week
at the moment on top of competing
once a fortnight. This seems to suit him
and his drive level for canvas. He has
a competition coming up and I need to
increase his hunting enthusiasm a little,
as he has started to become a little bored
only hunting for a bit in one area before
moving on.
I use the dummy launcher for this
purpose. It automatically excites him and
Keepa is in danger
of becoming bored
Ellena Swift is expecting a baby and was advised, due to the hot weather, not to do any gundog training close to her due date. So Simon Trinder
stepped into the breach and provided some illustrations for us in place of photographs. We at Shooting Times wish her the best of luck. PG
38 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
gets him keener. I allow him to pick a few
marks that are thrown into longer grass
and cover so, though it is a marked
retrieve, he has to hunt harder for them.
Once I have got his enthusiasm up
a gear, I plant some very small objects
in the same area where the marks were
falling. You have to be careful doing this
that the dog won’t swallow what you are
asking them to pick, so I only do this with
older reliable dogs.
This hunting training exercise is very
well demonstrated by handlers and dogs
competing in working trials. They have a
25-yard square box to hunt and extremely
small items to find. For this I am using
“In hot weather, some of the older dogs
can go a little flat; a bag of sand can only
be so exciting after the real thing”
small flat disks and a tiny dummy key ring.
I make sure they are well hidden and all
in the area of the original fall.
If Keepa stops hunting or attempts to
move on, rather than using my whistle and
directing him back to the area, I say ‘No’
and walk out to him so he understands
that is not what I want. Then I stand closer
to the area and ask him to hunt again.
While he is hunting I use verbal praise
to reassure him he is doing right by
continuing to hunt that area. Slowly but
surely I increase the distance until I am
standing where I started and he isn’t
requiring my reassurance to continue
hunting that area.
Summer Sale
£22.99
Subscribe *

for just

ENJOY THESE
GREAT SUBSCRIBER
BENEFITS:
Never miss an issue with
the luxury of direct home
delivery
Enjoy the finest country
EACH writing from 1882 to the
ISSUE resent day
£2.75 eep up with the latest
£1.77 * hooting and country news

Subscribe online at Quote code: 47AL

Complete the
shootingtimessubs.co.uk/47AL 0330 333 1113 coupon below
Monday - Saturday, 8am - 6pm (UK time)

THE DIRECT DEBIT GUARANTEE: This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits. If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit, Magazines Direct will notify you 10 working
days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request Magazines Direct to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request. If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit
by Magazines Direct or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society. If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when Magazines Direct asks you to. You
can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify us.

Complete this coupon and send to: FREEPOST TI Media Limited (No further address needed. No stamp required – for UK only)

YES! I would like to subscribe to Shooting Times I would like to send a gift to: 3. Pay only £22.99 every 3 months by Direct Debit (UK only)
Please also fill out ‘Your details’ on the left. To give more than one Instruction to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit
■ UK Direct Debit, pay only £22.99 every
3 months, SAVING YOU 35% off the full
TOP subscription, please supply address details on a separate sheet.

Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss: Forename:
For office use only. Originator’s reference - 764 221

3 monthly price of £35.75 OFFER Surname:

Name of Bank:

■ 1 year Cheque/Credit or Debit Card (52 issues), pay only Address:

Address:
£99.99, saving 30%, (full price £143.00). Postcode:
■ 2 year Cheque/Credit or Debit Card (104 issues), pay only Account Name:
Postcode:
£185.49, saving 35%, (full price £286.00). Sort Code: Account No:
Choose from 3 easy ways to pay:
Your details: 1. I enclose a cheque/postal order made payable to TI Media Limited , for £ ______
Instructions to your Bank or Building Society: Please pay Magazines Direct from the
Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss: Forename:
2. Please debit £ from my: accounts detailed on this Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct
■ Visa ■ Visa Debit ■ MasterCard ■ Amex Debit Guarantee. I understand that this instruction may remain with Magazines Direct
Surname: and if so, details will be passed electronically to my Bank or Building Society.
Card No:
Email:

Address:
- - -
Signature: Date:
Expiry Date:
(I am over 18)

■■■■
M M Y Y Signature:
(I am over 18)
Date:

Postcode:

Home Tel No: (inc.area code)

Mobile No.
By submitting your information, you agree to our Privacy Policy available at www.
ti media.com/privacy/. Please keep me up to date with special offers and news from
Shooting Times and other brands within the TI Media Limited Group by email,
post, telephone and/or SMS. You can unsubscribe at any time.
■ Please keep me up to date with special offers and news just by email from carefully selected companies. Your personal details will not be shared with
those companies - we send the emails and you can unsubscribe at any time. Offer closes 31 August 2019. Offer open to new subscribers only. Direct Debit offer
is available to UK subscribers only. *£22.99 payable by 3 monthly Direct Debit. This price is guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance
of any price changes. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery of your first subscription issue (up to eight weeks overseas). The full subscription rate is for 12
months (52 issues) and includes postage and packaging. If the magazine ordered changes frequency per annum, we will honour the number of issues paid for,
not the term of the subscription. For full terms and conditions, visit www.magazinesdirect.com/terms. For enquiries please call: +44 (0) 330 333 1113. Lines are
open Monday - Saturday 8am - 6pm UK Time or e-mail: help@magazinesdirect.com. Calls to 0330 numbers will be charged at no more
than a national landline call, and may be included in your phone provider’s call bundle.
YSS CODE: 47AL
 Catlow’s notebook WITH LAURENCE CATLOW

The poults arrive in the middle

of July and all the preparations
for them must be done by then

LAURENCE
CATLOW,A
PASSIONATE
SHOOTERAND
ANGLERFOR
MORETHAN
40YEARS,
HASWRITTEN
FIVEBOOKS
ABOUTSPORT
WITHROD
ANDGUN.HIS
NOTEBOOK
RUNSINTHE
FIRSTISSUEOF
EVERY MONTH.

It’s off to work we go

With the poults arriving and the season just around the corner, it’s
all hands on deck at syndicate shoots. Thank goodness for sherry

I
t was half-past seven in the
evening and I was blessing the
memory of the Spanish genius,
the saint and chief benefactor
of mankind who first fermented
Palomino grapes to produce the
sublime and consoling nectar that
we in England call sherry. It was even
more consoling than usual because,
even in deepest Cumbria, where it
rains a lot, the day had been stinking
hot beneath a savage sun. As well as
hot it had been airless, humid, sweaty
and, where I had been, hordes of
buzzing and biting flies had provided
an additional and constant attraction.
Despite all of this I had enjoyed
myself, though my old back was
insisting that a day full of bending and
twisting and turning had not been its
idea of fun. My back and I had been
P. QUAGLIANA
most of the day helping to check and,
where necessary, patch the wire
round our pheasant pens. We were
doing this and one or two other things
in preparation for the arrival of our
birds in the middle of July.
I rather like work days, though I
cannot deny that the work days I like
best are those I cannot go to because
I am away fishing. I like workdays but
I like fishing a lot more. Anyway, I like
“You are unlikely to leave a work day
appalled by your own incompetence”
the work days that I actually turn up
to because it is good to feel that you
are making some sort of contribution
to all the effort that goes into running
a decent shoot. It is also good to meet
that another pheasant season had
drawn to a close.
It is always good to meet up with
friends and it is good to see your
shoot wearing its summer clothes;
to be there when, however hot and
humid, the air is laden with the scent
of meadowsweet and mown grass
and elderflowers. And workdays
are usually fairly relaxed occasions,
whereas the shooting days for which
they prepare are often touched with
tension and uncertainty.
On shooting days keepers and
beaters are hoping that they will able
to send enough pheasants over the

to a workday at Wyegill, the syndicate friends you may not have seen since Guns; they are eager and anxious
shoot I joined last season. I had spent the grim day when you acknowledged not to disappoint.

40 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE


The Guns share their hope, and
hope too — though not perhaps
without a touch of anxiety — that they
will be able to put their share of birds
in the bag. I hate standing in a line of
Guns and shooting badly. I go home
from days spent missing pheasants
feeling foolish and miserable.
Disgusted
But on a work day there is little risk of
such feelings. You may hit your thumb
or one of your fingers with a hammer;
more than likely you will scratch
yourself on brambles or some broken
wire; your back is almost certain to
start complaining before too long. But
you are very unlikely to drive away
from a work day feeling appalled and
disgusted by your own incompetence.
And another good thing about
workdays, especially the hot and
sweaty ones, is that when they are
over I go home and lounge in the bath
for half an hour in an attempt
to make my back feel a little
happier. I then prepare my
dinner and realise with
A fishing trip to Wales
beckons for Laurence, but
not until High Park is re
for the new arrivals
Palomino grapes and
Spanish genius make the
nectar that is sherry
delight and relief that sherry time has
at last come round. The wonderful
fluid tastes twice as wonderful and
twice as soothing as it normally does,
which is saying quite a lot.
I am writing this piece towards the
middle of July and there are one or
two more work days to come. Then
there will be 600 ex-layers to take
to the pens at Forest Hall, a rough
and ready farmers’ shoot to which I
belong and which I enjoy enormously.
And a three-line whip has already
been declared for the delivery of the
Wyegill birds in less than a week.
Fishing trip
Talk of work days reminds me that
there is plenty to do at High Park.
Headkeeper Tony Smith has been
somewhat out of sorts and I have been
fishing obsessively; I am off to Wales
for another week’s fishing just before
the beginning of release. So now, not
in a day or two or some time next
week, now is the time to make
everything ready for the
arrival of our poults at
the end of the month.
I shall have to
renounce fishing
until I head to Wales
unless perhaps,
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 41
Catlow’s notebook
As the season rolls around once more, all the
jobs on the shoot must have been completed
if I work really hard and manage
to get ahead of myself, I might be
able to reward all my efforts with an
afternoon (or two) on the Tees or the
Wharfe. If that is to happen there will
have to be a frenzy of strimming and
spraying round the outside of the
pens before the electric fences can
surround and protect them.
Pop-holes
The pop-holes will need attention,
drinkers will be cleaned; the pellets
are in the shed and will need taking to
the bins; fresh cover needs cutting to
provide shelter and refuge for nervous
poults. Though both pens are more
or less new, I must remember to check
the wire in case there is a hole or two.
Oh yes, and I need to get enough
bales of barley straw for the first week
or two of release. Perhaps I should
forget about any fishing before my
trip to Wales. The good news, anyway,
is that I remembered to order the
birds at the beginning of February —
I forgot one year and was only saved
by a late cancellation — and I have
already fixed the day of their delivery.
Sometimes I am surprised by my
own efficiency, though there is one
duty that I have forgotten. This was
to advise all holidaymakers to avoid
south-east Cumbria in the last week
of July, because that is when my birds
come to High Park and it always rains.
You will surely remember last
summer’s drought; well, it ended up
here the day before my poults arrived.
As it happened I was not there to see
the rain nor the poults because my
Land Rover was sulking in Shropshire
and more or less refusing to move.
I was forced to leave my pheasants
to others and go fishing instead.
Anyway, this article is too late for
end-of-July holidaymakers and it may
be that the sun shone for them in
Cumbria. But you can be sure that, as
the month drew to a close, there were
grey skies over High Park with rain
coming out of them.

C EL
‘Beg, buy or marry it’
Tracking down a good day’s sport is far from easy. John Marchington
looks at the options open to someone seeking some regular shooting
H
ow to find shooting? This,
in nearly all cases, is the
biggest problem for the
newcomer to the sport,
and one for which helpful advice
is extremely difficult to come by.
Demand for shooting far exceeds
the supply and many potential
sportsmen, after a succession of
rebuffs from farmers, lose heart.
As a boy I enjoyed great sport,
first in East Anglia and later in the
Derbyshire hills, but the demands
of the early stages of a career made
me put away my gun and rods. Then
came the happy day, nine years ago,
when I found I had time. But by then
I was living in Surrey and practically
all my old contacts were lost.
I set to work and my diary for last
season includes walked-up grouse
in Scotland, goose flighting on the
Wash, driven pheasants in Norfolk,
decoying pigeons in five counties,
“The cost to the owner of a day’s shooting for one Gun is £40 so invitations are limited to friends”
42 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
E B R ATING OUR BEST WRITE
RS
driven partridges on the Isle of Ely, “On the buying side is
five woodcock in a day in Hampshire, the 100 acres rented
some grand duck flighting on the Isle by the lone wolf”
of Sheppey and two of the best-known
hare shoots in Cambridgeshire — in
fact a wonderful collection of assorted
days spread over much of the country.
Landowner’s daughter
There are essentially three ways
of obtaining shooting. The first is
to marry the daughter of a large
landowner. However, as success is
normally dependent upon your being
handsome, wealthy and preferably
titled, we will dismiss this approach
on the grounds that few readers of
this article will be qualified.
We are left with two alternatives:
you can buy it or beg it. Let’s start
at the top and work down, with the by, the landowner or tenant farmer.
top represented by the large private Such a shoot will require at least one
non-syndicate shoots that usually full-time keeper, and by the time his
belong to, and are administrated wages have been met and a cottage
and vehicle provided, there will be
little change out of £1,000.
The cost of rearing, beaters,
keeper’s cartridges, annual feed bills,
and innumerable extras will add at
least another £1,500. In other words a
total annual cost in excess of £2,500.
Assuming eight Guns shoot on eight
days in the season, the cost to the
owner of giving a day’s shooting to
one Gun is in the order of £40. This
ignores the fact that the host will very
probably provide accommodation
for several of his Guns and possibly

their loaders. Small wonder that
invitations are mainly restricted to
those friends who are able to offer top-
class shooting in return. Nor can mere
money buy a gun in such a shoot — for
this we have to descend a rung to the
syndicate shoots.
Here a reasonable season’s
shooting may still be bought for as
little as £75 to £100 per Gun, but at
this level the shoot will either have no
keeper or at best a part-timer. If birds
are put down they have to take their
chance and sport is often something
of a gamble. In Sussex, within easy
reach of London, £100 buys less than
the same sum in Norfolk, where there
isn’t so much competition. From this
stems the rule that if your financial
resources are limited it is usually well
worthwhile tolerating a long drive to
and from your day’s sport.
Social virtues
However, a syndicate bears the risk
that the Guns are there because they
can pay, and not because they are well
tried and proven friends invited for
their social virtues. The size of the bag
will be in proportion to the cost per
Gun; the quality of the friendship will
be quite unrelated.
Finally, on the buying side we have
the odd 100 acres or so rented by the
lone wolf. These small rough shoots
vary enormously both in setting and
in quality, but the best can be very
good indeed. The opportunity to
rent rough shooting comes through
personal contact with the right people
and this usually means the farmer.
And so we come to the begging.
The English farmer is usually a
suspicious man and to win his
“When you finish, seek the farmer out and
offer him every pigeon you have shot”
confidence is a long and difficult task.
Yet once you have succeeded, there
is no kinder nor more generous body
of men in the country. To drive down
some muddy country lane in the
knowledge that at the end of it lies a
true rural welcome is a heartening
experience. So now we come to the
crux of the problem: how does the
man with little money and no friends
in the farming world find shooting?
The answer is obvious and simple:
go and ask for it. But before you
start — think. It is not the slightest
“The Guns are
there because they
pay, not because
they are friends
invited for their
social virtues”
use tearing up to the farm, rather too
quickly, with three friends and asking
for general permission to shoot. The
farm is the farmer’s living and his way
of life and he would rather tolerate
his vermin than give permission
to several men to wander around
shooting as they please. Your chance
of success will be greatly improved
if you observe the following points.
First, a day’s rough shooting
does not necessarily call for one’s
oldest clothes. Secondly, go alone.
Psychologically, a farmer will give
consent to one man where he will
refuse it for more. Thirdly, do not
take a dog. You may know it to
be trustworthy, the farmer does
not. Finally, and by far the most
important, do not ask for general
permission to wander about shooting
vermin. The prospect of the average
Gun taking much toll of vermin while
strolling casually is remote, and if the
farmer cares about his vermin he will
be even less likely to grant permission
to the stranger.
The secret lies in the rough
shooter’s old friend, the pigeon.
Imagine yourself as a farmer. A car
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 43
Vintage Times
drives up and a reasonable-looking
individual bids you good morning
and says: “With this snow about the
pigeons are knocking hell out of your
kale by the main road. May I build a
hide by the pit and decoy for a few
hours?” You may still say no, but if any
approach will win, that one will.
Permission
Never ask for permanent permission;
give the farmer the opportunity to try
you. Never ask to wander, state where
you wish to shoot from and for how
long. And watch your neighbourhood
and only ask for permission when
there is an obvious need for a gun.
When you finish, seek the farmer
out, even if it is raining and he is half
a mile off, thank him and offer him
every pigeon you have shot. He will
almost certainly not take them, but
offer them. Then, and only then,
ask if you may decoy from the same
spot again. Once you gain a name
for reliability the next approach is
far easier, for you can give your first
farmer’s name as a reference.
The qualities you need to find free
shooting are perseverance, seeing the
other man’s point of view, and a sense
of humour.
This article was first published in the
13 August 1964 issue of Shooting Times.
 Gundogs
More fun for this fair
The Game Fair was once a must-visit fixture but its appeal is sadly
slipping — it desperately needs revitalising, says David Tomlinson
MY VISIT TO THE
first day of this year’s
Game Fair at Hatfield
House is best summed up
by the fact that, soon after arriving
at the fair, I was giving serious
consideration to buying a pair of
wellingtons and an umbrella.
It had been so hot the previous
day — with the record-breaking 38.7°C
(101.7°F) in nearby Cambridge — that I
had been lulled into thinking that all
I needed for my day at the fair was a
hat and sunscreen. I hadn’t reckoned
on the heavy thunderstorms and
slippery mud that followed the
sweltering heat.
This year I had enjoyed the luxury
of viewing a digital version of the
official show guide some days before,
so I had carefully noted where I was
going to go and what I was hoping
to see. I had been told how brilliant
D. TOMLINSON
a handler Roy Ellershaw is with his
springers and Clumbers, so I planned
to go and watch his demonstration in
44 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
the Kennel Club ring. Frustratingly,
this clashed with the gundog mass
demonstration in the working dog
ring. As it was I missed both, as
instead I listened to a lively discussion
on shooting in the Carter Jonas Game
“The heat of the
day before had put
people off but it
was sad to see
scurries with no
dogs scurrying”
Fair Theatre. The latter did have the
great advantage of being indoors as
it was an unpleasantly wet morning.
The rain did eventually give
up, so I made my way across to the
extensive gundog area, pausing first
to watch the Euro Challenge in the
international gundog arena.
There were few dogs and
handlers taking part in
the have-a-go events
This year there were five teams
taking on the home side — Belgium,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and
Switzerland — and they all seemed
to be having plenty of fun, though
it’s not the greatest spectator sport.
I’m still mystified why the Game Fair
can’t innovate a little to liven up the
proceedings. Why not use remote
dummy launchers, for example?
Water splash
The trouble with Hatfield Park for
gundog events such as this is that
it lacks water, so the organisers had
sunk a rather unattractive plastic-
lined water splash in the middle of
the arena. It was large and, so I was
assured, quite deep and the dogs
I watched all appeared to be happy
to splash in and out of it. But it hardly
seemed appropriate for what should
be a prestigious international event.
I left the Euro Challenge for
the Sporting Dog Pavilion, which
according to the show guide offered

DAVID’S VIEWPOINT
TOO MUCH
FOR ONE DAY
There’s a lot to see but the
entertainment was patchy
F
or many years I used to go to all
three days of the Game Fair, which
is essential if you want to see and
do everything. This year I only managed
a single day, so there’s no doubt that
I missed a lot.
I was looking forward to the
opportunity of hearing Dr Mark Avery
try to justify the actions of Wild Justice
and the general licence fiasco in the
Game Fair Theatre, but though he was
scheduled to appear his invitation was
withdrawn. I wasn’t surprised, as it would
have been a bit like asking Jeremy Corbyn
to be guest speaker at a Conservative
fundraising supper.
I’m not sure when horses and hounds
made their first appearance at the
“the unique chance to see over 20
different breeds”. Sadly, not all of
them turned up on the Friday and
I looked in vain for the springers,
which were reputed to have returned
after some years’ absence. However,
the dogs and their owners that were
there — ranging from Brittanys to
Clumbers and even French spaniels —
were all very welcoming.
Whether they welcomed as
many visitors as they hoped for was
another matter, as the pavilion was
a long walk from the centre of what
was otherwise a compact fair. I was,
however, assured that when it rained
the pavilion soon filled up.
As a major feature of the Game Fair,
there were plenty of have-a-go gundog
Game Fair but both were absent when
I started attending in the 1970s. Today
they are an essential part of the main
arena’s entertainment. I particularly
enjoy the hound parades but for sheer
entertainment the scurry driving is great
stuff. Driving ponies at a gallop takes real
skill and some bravery.
This year the main arena featured a
daily event simply called Gundogs, which
followed the scurry driving. Sadly, after
the excitement of the galloping ponies
the gundogs were a little boring. The idea
was for the dogs and handlers to replicate
a driven day’s shooting, with the spaniels
pushing the birds forward and the
retrievers picking-up. It was a good idea
but in practice didn’t really work. There
were no Guns, just a couple of chaps firing
starting pistols and throwing dummies.
The most entertaining moment came
when the spaniels were allowed to have a
retrieve and the one Clumber saw off an
intruding Welsh springer as he tried to
collect three dummies for himself.
events. However, disappointingly, on
the Friday there were relatively few
dogs and handlers taking part.
Have-a-go events
No doubt the scorching heat of the
day before had put many people off,
but even so it was sad to see scurries
with no dogs scurrying. Reporting on
the 2011 Blenheim Game Fair I noted
that the “have-a-go events were well
patronised with long queues for each
competition”. This year the queues
were conspicuous by their absence.
When I arrived home from Hatfield
I checked my emails and found a
fascinating response to my Game Fair
preview (Fresh for a fair fight, 24 July)
from reader Michael Ransom.
The plastic pond in the
gundog arena was not
appropriate for a
prestigious
event
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 45
Gundogs
The scurry driving excited the crowds
Though it was good to see such
a variety of gundogs in the main arena,
I couldn’t help but feel that this was
an opportunity missed. In the past
the main arena has hosted displays of
gundog handling, but this year Howard
Kirby (HPRs), Will Clulee (spaniels) and
Ricky Moloney (retrievers) did their
handling displays in the international
gundog arena. They deserved to be in
the main ring.
Email: dhtomlinson@btinternet.com
“As you point out, the gundog
activities follow a standard format
and only really appeal to those
already in the sport. They all require
that you have your own dog to
compete. This set me thinking: all the
other have-a-go activities provide you
with the kit, be it gun, rod or bow, so
why not offer the same to potential
gundog handlers and owners? If
you could experience the joy of
working a gundog to retrieve (under
the supervision of an experienced
handler) would this not encourage
more people into the gundog world?”
That’s a great idea. It would need
a gundog club to provide the dogs and
supervise handlers, but it would be a
terrific fun. Not every dog, of course,
will work for a stranger but there are
many that will. I can’t think of a better
way of introducing the pleasure of
gundog handling to people who have
never experienced it before.
There’s no doubt that the Game
Fair desperately needs to be much
bolder and innovative with the
gundog events in the future. For many
years the fair has been a must-visit
event for gundog enthusiasts but
both its popularity and its appeal are
slipping. The organisers need to ask
why and to do something radical to
revitalise it.
Smoked eel and venison
bresaola added to cooked
potatoes make a tasty and
satisfying warm salad

46 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE


Game Cookery
Eel was once a staple in England but is now hard to find. Delicious and
sustainable, the fish is the star of this cooked salad, says Rose Prince
W
ild foods tend to fit well
together on a plate
simply because they
belong together in the
glorious British landscape. Fungi and
seaweed, wild herbs and cobnuts all
go well with furred and feathered game
but it occurs to me also that the harvest
from our streams has a place, too. Think
crayfish, brown trout — and eel, once the
fare of East End pie-and-mash shops but
now quite rare.
The inspiration for this August recipe
came to me from a local producer,
Ingredients
24 NEW POTATOES
8 SLICES PANCETTA, SNIPPED
INTO PIECES
OLIVE OIL AND BUTTER
FOR FRYING
300GSMOKEDEELFILLET,CUT
INTOLARGEBITE-SIZEPIECES
2BANANASHALLOTS,SLICED
12CORNICHONS,ORSMALL
GHERKINS,SLICED
1 TBSP CAPERS, SOAKED IN COLD
WATER THEN DRAINED
160GSLICEDVENISONBRESAOLA
(DELIFARMCHARCUTERIE.CO.UK)
2TBSPCHOPPED FLAT LEAF
PARSLEY
1 TBSP CHOPPED TARRAGON
FORTHEDRESSING
1TBSPDIJONMUSTARD
1TBSPWATER
¼ TSP SALT
1TBSPCIDERVINEGAR
4TBSPSUNFLOWEROIL
1TBSPEXTRAVIRGINOLIVEOIL
FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER
A. SYDENHAM
Bridport-based Chesil Smokery, run by
keen Shot and game-business character
Mark Firth. Since I moved to Dorset, Mark
has become a great friend and lunch
companion. His kippers and smoked
“Mature farmed eels, hot smoked over wood
chips, are the greatest smoked fish of all”
salmon are among the best produced
in the UK but his passionate relationship
with game adds an essential element.
Mark takes a keen interest in the
environment and, given that the European
eel is classified as endangered, he wanted
to use eel from a sustainable source. He
found it with a member of the Sustainable
Eel Group based near the river Severn.
The initiative of Richard Cook, a traditional
‘elverer’, offers an answer with eels that
are caught as young elvers. Half his harvest
is sent to the Netherlands where it goes
on to be farmed for smoking, while the
remainder is reared locally in tanks for
two years to give them a higher chance
CURED VENISON AND SMOKED
EEL SALAD LYONNAISE
THE METHOD
Serves 4
1 Boil the potatoes until tender then
drain, cut in half and set aside in
a warm place on a serving platter or
shallow dish.
2 Place a frying pan over a medium
heat, add the pancetta and fry
until crisp. Scatter this over the warm
potatoes. Add a nut of butter and some
olive oil to the pan, then fry the eel
fillets until they brown a little — do not
overcook them. Add to the potatoes
and pancetta.
3 Next, sauté the banana shallots —
you may need more cooking fat.
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 47
Venison
of survival, then released into the streams
that feed the rivers Severn and Wye. The
young eels can then complete their natural
migratory life cycle. For more about the Eel
Campaign, visit severnandwye.co.uk.
Mature farmed eels, hot smoked over
wood chips, are the greatest smoked fish
of all. You can eat them straight from the
smokehouse, as it were, but you can also
fry the fillets as you would a fat slice of
back bacon.
This warm, main-course salad is based
on the Lyonnaise habit of combining cured
meats with potatoes, mustard dressing
and piquant items such as capers and
baby gherkins. As I eat it, I like to think of
the fallow deer in the south-west watching
interestedly while the young eels slither
across the fields between streams.
To buy smoked eel online visit
chesilsmokery.co.uk.
4 Sprinkle the cooked sliced
onions over the salad with the
cornichons, capers, slices of venison
bresaola and herbs.
5 To make the dressing, put all the
ingredients in a bowl and whisk
until you have a smooth emulsion —
the water helps this process. Taste
and adjust the seasoning, adding
more mustard if you wish.
6 Pour the dressing over the venison
bresaola and eel salad and mix it
all together gently and lightly. Serve
warm with good bread on the side.
 SPORTING ANSWERS
The experts The handsome goshawk will kill
sparrowhawks as they won’t tolerate
smaller raptors on their territories
THE ULTIMATE
SHOOTING QUIZ TEAM
BILL HARRIMAN
BASC’s head of firearms and
global authority on guns
MAT MANNING
Airgunner and journalist from
the West Country
BRUCE POTTS
Shooting Times rifle reviewer
and stalker
DAVID TOMLINSON
Highly regarded writer and
ornithologist
LIAM BELL
NGO chairman, Shropshire
gamekeeper and keen wildfowler
GRAHAM DOWNING
Shooting consultant and
sporting author
CHRIS DE CANI
Riverkeeper, with specialist
knowledge of chalkstreams
TONY BUCKWELL
Veterinary surgeon with a
special interest in gundogs
TONY JACKSON
A game Shot, keen stalker and
former editor of Shooting Times
TOM PAYNE
Professional shooting instructor
and avid pigeon shooter
JEREMYHUNT
Runs Fenway Labradors and
a professional gundog trainer
S. WHITEHEAD / A. SYDENHAM / P. QUAGLIANA / S. FARNSWORTH / J. POTTS / ALAMY / GETTY IMAGES

TIMMADDAMS
Former head chef at River
Cottage and runs a shoot in Devon
SIMON WHITEHEAD
Author, professional ferreter
and rabbit controller
IAIN WATSON
Keen stalker and senior CIC
international trophy judge
Contact the team
Email: stanswers@ti-media.com
By post: Shooting Times, Pinehurst
2, Farnborough Business Park,
Hants GU14 7BF
Predating on sparrowhawks
GAMEKEEPING
We had a breeding pair of
sparrowhawks on our shoot,
but both adult birds seem to have
been predated — we have seen
feathers but not a body. What
is likely to have taken them?
The most likely killer of the
sparrowhawks is a goshawk.
Goshawks are very much like
sparrowhawks in their behaviour and
hunting, but they are considerably
bigger and heavier so can take much
larger prey. They are also renowned
for not tolerating smaller raptors
in their territories. When goshawks
become established in an area there
is invariably a reduction in the number
of breeding sparrowhawks.
The reduction may not be simply
due to the goshawks killing the
sparrowhawks, but because the smaller
birds are simply out-competed by the
more dominant goshawk. Intriguingly,
studies have shown that sparrowhawks
will often build their nests in places
poor in prey so they can avoid areas
attractive to other predators. DT

48 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE


Advantages of a lap spay
VETERINARYCARE
We intend to have our bitch
neutered and have been told
we could have a ‘lap spay’ but it
would cost more. Could you explain
what this is, why should it cost more
and is it worth it?
A laparoscopic spay (or neuter)
is an alternative to the traditional
method. The procedure enables your
bitch to have her ovaries removed using
keyhole surgery, with a camera and
blood-vessel sealing device. It is less
invasive and allows faster recovery
time than the traditional spay; which
involves making a longer incision,
in the midline of the tummy. Using the
traditional method, the whole uterus,
as well as the ovaries, are removed
Deer control
out of season
PESTCONTROL
I manage deer on a woodland
Site of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI), where we are having
significant and long-term problems
with damage from fallow deer
during the close season. I have
discussed the idea of obtaining an
out-of-season licence from Natural
England but have heard that the
process is complicated and long-
winded. Is there any other way
of dealing with the problem?
It is true that an out-of-season
licence to shoot deer may be
granted by Natural England to protect
the natural heritage. However, Section 7
of the 1991 Deer Act permits an occupier
or authorised person in writing to kill
deer out of season. This is if he has
reasonable grounds for believing that
deer of the same species are causing,
or have caused, damage to crops,
vegetables, fruit, growing timber or any
other form of property on the land.
If the damage to the conservation
interests of the SSSI amounts to damage
to property, it follows that you, with
the occupier’s written permission, may
undertake out-of-season control of deer
on the land to prevent that damage.
through this larger hole. The
advantages of a laparoscopy over
conventional surgery include less pain
from the smaller surgical wounds that
require fewer stitches and the bitch
tends to be more comfortable post-
operatively. This all promotes a quicker
return to normal activity, due to the
improved patient comfort and reduced
scar tissue formation.
Laparoscopic surgery costs more
than traditional neutering because the
surgeon requires specialist training
and it uses specialist equipment that is
both costly to purchase and maintain.
A relatively small proportion of
surgical procedures are carried out
laparoscopically in pets in the UK,
though there is now a steady increase
in the number of veterinary practices
providing this service. TB
Fallow deer damage unprotected woodland,
leaving behind only sedge as ground flora
Before doing so, you should assure
yourself that: a) it was likely that further
damage would occur and that any such
damage was likely to be serious; and
b) that your action was necessary for
the purpose of preventing any such
damage. I would strongly recommend
that before undertaking any action
you obtain photographic evidence of
the damage, preferably evidence that
links it to fallow deer, such as images
of slot marks, in case you have to defend
your actions. While your objective is to
prevent damage, you should also bear
in mind the need for humane control
if shooting females and their young
out of season. GD
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 49
Expert tips and advice
Native
Britain
Plants, flowers and fungi
of Great Britain at a glance
Latin name: Halimione
portulacoides
Common name: Sea purslane
How to spot it and where to find
it: A plant of the saltmarsh and
mudflats, sea purslane is part of
nature’s bounty. You can also find it
on sand dunes and sandy beaches,
where it can form huge carpets. The
bushy perennial has woody, greyish-
brown stalks with succulent oval
leaves, about 2cm to 4cm long. They
are light silvery green and covered in
tiny, fine hairs. It produces clusters
of minute yellow flowers, which turn
into pale yellow seeds.
Interesting facts: The tiny hairs
that cover the leaves of sea purslane
help it to hang on to moisture,
reducing loss across their surface.
And the presence of the fungus
morrhizae in its roots helps the plant
obtain sustenance in a nutrient-poor
environment. Those succulent
leaves add a delicious salty crunch
to salads, though some might find
them too salty when raw. Blanching
quickly — cook them too long and
they will become bitter — removes
some of the salt and they make
a good accompaniment to fish
and lamb dishes. A pinch of black
pepper, a squeeze of lemon or pat of
butter showcases them perfectly.
The flowers and seeds can be
used as garnish or made into
a flavoursome pesto.
When picking sea purslane, snip
off the top leaves— trying to pick
them by hand often means you
accidentally pull up the whole plant
so it’s best to use scissors — as they
make the best eating.
 SPORTING ANSWERS

Working Bat protection in houses

ferrets WILDLIFE

We have recently moved to

bred. Pipistrelles roost in the eaves,
or under wooden cladding or hanging
tiles. Very occasionally a baby bat will
FERRETING a rural setting and discovered find its way into a room or youngsters
we have a colony of bats living in will fly through an open window.
I am convinced my ferrets the roof of our listed house. I would Colonies can occasionally be noisy
are not actually working. be interested to know whether they for a short period in the summer if they
How can I tell? will be resident there year round are inside cladding by a window. There
and whether they are likely to be is usually no smell, unless droppings
When you are working your noisy or create a smell. Also, if I become wet.
ferrets, the barometer of their wish to make structural alterations If you intend to carry out any
activity is usually how long it has to the roof and loft does this require building work that might affect the
been since you last saw them, their any form of permission? I have no colony, such as re-roofing or loft
demeanour when surfacing and the wish to harm nor cause any serious alterations, you must inform English
amount of rabbits bolting. Some disturbance to the bats, which Nature before starting — visit po.st/
ferrets — generally hobs — are I believe are pipistrelles. batsprotect for more information.
plodders, slow and methodically Usually, it is simply a matter of
scrutinising the warren, whereas Most colonies of bats are seasonal organising the work to avoid the
some, especially racy Jills, tend to and tend to leave after they have bats’ breeding season. TJ
be quick, like a wild polecat or stoat.
Some ferrets just plod about and bolt Pipistrelles tend to roost
rabbits as if almost by accident. in eaves or under wooden
What you want is a ferret that cladding or hanging tiles
listens, smells and feels its way
around the rabbit warren. This way
it can locate or follow the rabbits
until they have either bolted or
have gone to a dead end.
If the ferrets surface and are
relaxed and want to wander off —
as opposed to coming out nose down
and wanting to go back down the
hole — no rabbits will bolt. But if they
race out, sniff and go back down, the
chances are more rabbits will bolt.
To really tell, fill all of the holes in
once you have finished ferreting —
you will soon know if any rabbits
were left behind. SW

Hobs can be plodders and jills can be quick,

but you need to know if they’re really working

Special subscription offer!

Save up to ONLINE: Subscribe online at shootingtimessubs.co.uk/47AL
*
35%
CALL: 0330 333 1113, Quote code: 47AL
7 days a week from 8am to 9pm (UK time)
DIRECT DEBIT: Complete the coupon on page 39
*per quarter by Direct Debit

50 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE


Varied
floats
FISHING
I have been left my
grandfather’s fishing tackle.
He took me fishing a few times,
he had hundreds of floats and
I always wondered why the floats
he used were all different shapes,
sizes and colours and made from
different materials. Could you
perhaps explain why the floats
are so varied?
There are different floats for
different conditions to act as
an indicator of when a fish has taken
your bait. I, too, have hundreds
of different floats that I have
accumulated over the years. I have
stick floats and Avon for trotting in
moving water, heavy wagglers for
fishing at distance, small dinks for
fishing under the rod tip and bulky
pike bungs for presenting dead baits.
Some floats are better in wind;
some are self-cocking to present
a slow-falling bait. They are made
from plastic or wood. Some are solid,
some hollow. A painted peacock quill
is one of the oldest types of float in
use today.
It is difficult to go into detail here
on the merits of each individual float,
but there are some excellent books
on fishing floats, which will guide
you on which float to use in a given
situation. CDC
Different floats suit types of fish and water
Expert tips and advice
Zero shift and fox loads
RIFLES
My .243 rifle is sighted in at
will be -3.1in low at 200 yards and some
-11.7in low at 300 yards.
Now, if you switch to a lighter bullet
100 yards with Federal 100-gr weight, say 70-gr for foxes as you state,
Sierra GameKing factory cartridges, then it is more than likely that your
which I use for deer. What would zero will shift not only vertically but
be the vertical shift in aim if I were also horizontally. You will need to
to use 70-gr bullets for foxes? re-zero regardless. Sometimes, though,
ballistics are odd so you may get lucky
To determine that, you need to and the zero may be close enough for
know the exact velocity from the your purposes.
Federal load you use in your rifle. The If a 70-gr .243 bullet travelling at
ballistics listed on the box or Federal 3,450fps is zeroed at 100 yards, at 200
catalogue is for a test rifle at the firm’s yards it will be -2.1in low and at 300
factory and not necessarily what you yards it will be -8.6in low. Yes, this is
will achieve with your gun. flatter than your 100-gr deer load, but
However, say the Federal 100-gr load you need to shoot your actual load in
you have shoots at 2,960fps as listed your rifle to determine any zero shift
and you are zeroed at 100 yards, you before you go after any game. BP
Ballistics can be odd and you
may get lucky, but you will
probably have to re-zero
Bird of the week by Graham Appleton GOLDEN EAGLE
Before the of wingspan, but the mistake it for any other
reintroduction of the breadth of the wing large raptor. These are
white-tailed eagle, the makes it look like birds of remote places,
golden eagle had the a ‘flying barn door’. occupying nest sites
largest wingspan of A golden eagle that have been used for
any British bird, at has almost twice the generations. Illegal
more than 2m. The wingspan of a buzzard persecution is still an
‘newcomer’ is only and is about five times issue in some areas
slightly larger, in terms as heavy, so it’s hard to and it is hoped that
improved tags, now
used to track the
movements of
youngsters, will add to
our knowledge of what
happens to birds before
they set up home. One
of the new features
will be to transmit
information that
provides “an instant fix
Improved tags should tell us more about the golden eagle’s life on any birds which die”.
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 51
 SPORTING ANSWERS
Rifles with full
octagonal barrels
were turned into
.410 shotguns
A story of a pretty little gun
GUN HISTORY
On the front cover of your
5 June issue, I noted that the
single-barrelled shotgun shown
had a barrel similar to that of my
percussion 20-bore of about 1840.
Though the gun in the photograph
is a breechloader of a much later
date, the barrel has the same
hexagonal cross section over the
first third of its length as mine,
dropping to a tapering round
section just where the fore-end
ends. In my case, however, the
barrel has an added square
section along the underside to
hold the ramrod loops. My gun,
unfortunately, has no number
nor maker’s name but the
Birmingham view and final proof
marks are clear. Does this barrel
design come from a known maker,
or was it common in the 19th
century gun trade?
The barrel profile of the single-
barrelled shotgun shown on the
cover of 5 June is typical of 19th
century firearms. It not only looked
good but also had a practical
application — it allowed the weight
of metal to be concentrated in the
breech section, where the pressure
of the exploding charge is at its
greatest. The pressure further
up the barrel was much less and,
as a consequence, the barrel walls
did not need to be so thick. This only
applied to shotguns; in the case of
rifles, many models and types had
full-length octagonal barrels.
52 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
This not only made them strong
enough to withstand the greatly
increased pressures but also the
additional weight conferred greater
stability when firing, leading to
increased accuracy. The additional
thickness also reduced barrel flex,
which made a rifle more accurate.
In the late 1920s, many pretty
little rook rifles with full octagonal
barrels were vandalised and turned
into .410 shotguns because the 1920
Firearms Act licensed rifles for the
first time. Many people did not want
the bureaucracy and grief — it existed
then as now — that came with applying
to the police for a firearm certificate.
Their octagonal barrels had their
outer profiles turned to the one-third
octagonal and two-thirds round. BH
Our front cover of the 5 June 2019 issue
showed walked-up sport with a breechloader
Sika variation
STALKING
Is there any simple way to
determine what type of sika we
have in an area? I have seen a
marked difference in antler size. Is
this down to food or is it genetic?
This is a complex question. Sika
in the UK originate from the
mid-Victorian period when live
specimens were first imported. These
are now considered to have been of the
typical Japanese race. As well as coming
to England, they were present in both
Ireland and Scotland, first in deer parks
then by way of releases and escapes,
and became naturalised.
In the early part of the 20th century
additional species of sika, notably the
larger Manchurian, could be found
in parks and living wild. Added to
this mix was the arrival and probable
interbreeding of other subspecies of
sika, including the Formosa variety.
As Richard Prior noted some years
ago “the late-Victorians’ passion for
experiment was not matched by their
record keeping”. Add to this the reality
of sika cross-breeding with red deer and
you have a major puzzle to solve.
Today, with access to DNA analysis,
the issue of the origin and make up of a
particular animal should be decodable.
However, that doesn’t help in deciding
what you are looking at in the field.
Body conformation and size offer
pointers, as does the colour of the velvet
on the growing head. The size of the
antlers and the number of points also
offer clues to the genetic make up.
Genetics, rather than nutrition, is the
main driver of the variation in animals
and, in the long-term, a type of deer
unique to the UK may be identified.
Populations in other European
countries, particularly France, are
similarly affected to our own. IW
Sika came from Japan but there are variations
 Expert tips and advice

Teaching the stop

to an older dog
GUNDOG TRAINING
Seeing dogs react
immediately to
the ‘stop’ command
is always impressive.
When I watch field
trials I am always in
awe of the level of
control it gives the
handler — far more
than many mere
mortals can achieve
with our own dogs in
the shooting field. I
have a fairly biddable
18-month-old Labrador
that I pick-up with and
wonder if I could
attempt to train ‘stop’
with her at this age?
Getting dogs to stop
at distance is a vital
part of training and
should be a fundamental
part of training for any
dog, whether or not it’s
a gundog. It is invaluable
when you can put the
brakes on and regain
control of a dog in any
given situation.
In all my years of
training I have had some
dogs where teaching
the stop was relatively
easy and others where it
takes a lot longer. Some
dogs are more naturally
receptive to the stop
whistle nd others see
it as interference and
initially resist. I never
use any type of force or
heavy handedness in my
training and that goes for
achieving the stop.
It’s not something I
ask for in the early stages
and I find that once I have
a dog listening to me
and the partnership we
have is developing, I can
blow for a stop and get a
reaction. It’s almost as if
the dog stops and turns
to look at me to ask “what
was that for?”
At that point I ask for
a sit so that I am in control
of the situation and we
have the foundations of
learning that a long blast
and a hand held high
means “stop what you are
doing and look at me”.
If your older dog is
biddable and listening,
you should be able to
manage that if you start
in a small area. If your
dog is steady and will take
directions I would throw
a dummy for her once she
is settled in the ‘stop’ so
that she learns there is
something good to earn
from this exercise. Keep
the distance between you
and the dog fairly short at
the start and I think you
will be surprised at how
quickly she will learn. JH
DIARY OF A
Crossword / Compiled by Eric Linden/1416
Across
6 Sole pro bewildered
by clay targets (7)
7 The head keeper reviews
a list of Highland attire (5)
9 See 3 down
10 Citizen giving the Rifle
Association more than just
local coverage (8)
11 Seasoned game recipe
ingredients that he rubs
when leaving university (5)
13 A rapid-fire gun ensures
chequering is cut (7)
15 Magazine for couples?
Not cool! (3-4)
17 A heavy bit of footwork
reveals the proof mark (5)
20 The pre-hunt gathering
is a garden affair (4,4)
21 For loading your own
cartridges, there’s no place
like it! (4)
Solution 1414 / 24 July 2019
Across: 6. Bivouac 7. Model
9. Compak 10. Indoor 11. Breech
12. Nets 14. Blue 15. Levels 17. Hoodie 18.
Severn 19. DEFRA
20. Courses
22 Pinks and the like 12 A classy way to fly
find goats’ cheese on to the commercial shoot,
the outskirts (5) for example (8)
23 The drain clearer brings 14 Loves unusual
a gun ejector (7) rodents (5)
16 Predator on the
waterfront making a stand
Down for art (6)
1 Is fishing a touch 18 Syndicate associate —
rough? (6) one who has a real sense
2 A trap expert looks of belonging (6)
in on the high point of 19 While in hospital you
reveal Zoli’s homeland (5)
a bird’s flight (4)
3 & 9 across A racy 21 Put the washing out
event for the Eley to deal with shot game (4)
cartridge? (5,4)
4 A rebounding bullet is the
wrong choice in the right
surroundings (8)
5 Variant within a breed
sees rats in distress (6)
8 It’s a sucker for the bale
maker! (5)
Down: 1. Pivot 2. Hopper feeders
3. Dark-bellied 4. Golden plovers
5. Reports 8. Night vision
13. Blooper 16. Armed
MYSTERY WORD: ANTLER
WINNER: M. FRASER-KETTLE,
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

haveputthecolonyindire
straitsastheywouldhave
DIARY beenrunningoutofflying
NO.21
bees.Atlonglastbothmy
hivesarenowfunctioning
Iwasmostrelievedtofind and,withsomemoregood
notonlyeggsbutmynew weather,Imayjustgeta
queenwhenIhadalook coupleofboxesofhoney
theotherday.Hadshe totidemeandmyfriends
not been there it would over the winter. LW
Howtoenter
To enter our crossword competition, identify
the word in the shaded squares and you could
win a Browning Grand Passage Camo gun slip
Cut out this coupon and send to:
Shooting Times Crossword No 1416, Shooting
Times, Pinehurst 2, Farnborough Business Park,
Hants GU14 7BF Postcode:
Tel no:
Mystery word:
Name:
Rules: Entries must be received by 14 August
Address: 2019.All usual conditions apply. Solution and
winner will appear in the 21 August 2019 issue.
Photocopies accepted.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 53

 PRODUCTS Visit us online / shootinguk.co.uk

From the gun shop

Our weekly round-up of the best and latest must-have kit on the shelf

1 Seeland Hawker quilt jacket

RRP: £64.99
seeland.com
ThisversatilelightHawkerjacketprovides
warmthevenwhenwet.Designedaseither
anouterormid-layer,itcanbepackedinto
asmallbagandisextremelycomfortable
towearallyearround. The jacket is available
in sizes M- 3XL.

2 Lightweight machine-washable
tweed waistcoat
RRP: £325 ( £259 in sale)
Musto.com
Madeforshootinginmildtowarmweather,
thiswaistcoathasaplasticeffectthatlooks
excellentbutmeansthatifyouspillsome
fooddownyourfrontatlunchorslidedown
1 amuddybank,itcanbeeasilypopped
intothewashingmachine and looks smart
again instantly.

3 Motor Mallard spinning wings decoy

RRP: £49.99
3 a1decoy.co.uk
Thisnewmotorisedduckdecoyisa
simulatedflyingmallard,featuringspinning
wings.Theserealisticduckscanstandin
reeds,onlandorabovethewaterbecause
theycanbesetupon threedifferentheight
4 mountingpoles.Thewingmovementis
especiallyeffectiveatduskonflightponds
bringing those ducks in from distance.

4 Quick-Set 270 pro digital poly

barrel feeder kit
RRP: £87.70
wildgameinnovations.com
Truetoitsname,WildgameInnovation’s
Quick-Set270requiresonlyaround
15minutesofset-upbeforeit’sfully
operationalandreadytodeliverfeed.
Thefeedercancarry270lboverall and
is easily moved when empty.

5 Farlows Creek ventile wading jacket

RRP: £475
www.farlows.co.uk
ThislighterweightCreekjacketisdestined
tobeago-tocoatforalltypesoffishing
inBritainandbeyond.Thecoatcancope
withallweathersand hastwointernaldrop
pocketsandtwolargechestpockets.Italso
looks sharp enough to be worn round town.

54 • SHOOTING TIMES & COU

Regal

l
ga
Re
RB
In a class

e’
ux
of its own

eL
l ‘d
ga
Re
RB

A true
round body
action with
sideplates
Visit us at stand number M1235

Imported exclusively by
Tel: 01728 688555 info@a-s-i.co.uk
CLASSIFIED DIRECTORY
For all classified advertising enquiries please contact:
ben.puckett@ti-media.com or call 01252 555305

Game Bird & duck Game Bird/ duck equip for Sale

MANOR GAME FARM Est 1981

2,000 14 week old partridges and 1,000
6 week old duck growers
Ready now Phone
07790 611491 - 01785 761990

Gunshop Guide - derbyshire

Range Of New & Second Hand Shotguns,

Air Rifles & Sporting Rifles
Range Of Shooting Equipment & Ammunition
Large Range of Outdoor,Waterproof Clothing,
Wellingtons & Boots
Tel: 01332 862091
www.melbournegun.com
64 Church Street, Melbourne, Derby DE73 8EJ

Dog FooD & EquipmEnt

Dogs For sale

5 Labrador Pups For Sale

KC registered. Fox Red/Black available. Both parents are very biddable and
Shooting AvAilAble excellent working companions any trial given.
Puppies will be microchipped, flead and wormed. 1st injection and vet
checked. These pups are well socialised and are ready to go on 8th August.
These are big strong dog pups.
No time wasters, no dreamers
Bitches GBP950 Dogs GBP850, Non refundable Deposit GBP200
Call 07950 892 727
Plan the best days
Hanoverian scent hound puppies,
of your life excellent pedigrees. Both parents
experienced trackers. Ready August.
Contact shoots directly Devon. Contact
No commission 07733092059 - 01626852650
Free to join
gunsonpegs.com
Vehicles & Accessories

Cotswold Shoot
Saturday Syndicate www.woodcock-hunting.com
positions available for
the 2019/20 season.
Contact: 07900 317163
56 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
 Alasdair Mitchell

Sharpshooter
The killing power of lead versus steel shot is a hot topic but a two-year
study in the US has concluded that there is no discernable difference

W
aitrose is planning For years, critics have said that steel was absolutely massive. It focused on the
to phase out game that simply doesn’t kill as well as lead, lacking American mourning dove, a very common
has been shot with lead the density to do the job properly. There quarry species. A total of 53 hunters were
in favour of game shot were some horror stories about early appointed from a computer-generated
with non-toxic alternatives. Looking further steel loads. More recently, however, random invitation. They fired a total of
afield, some say that machinations within manufacturers claim to have developed 5,094 shots, killing 1,146 doves outright
the EU make an effective ban on exporting some highly effective steel loads, chiefly and wounding 739.
lead-shot game to mainland Europe a by slightly boosting velocity. Of the bagged birds, 1,110 were
probability within the next few years. I confess to having a personal subsequently X-rayed and dissected to
Steel is the most cost-effective prejudice against steel. But the advent investigate the pellet strikes and depth of
alternative to lead shot. Many pigeon of biodegradable shot cups for steel loads penetration. Each hunter was accompanied
shooters have already switched to steel, by a trained observer equipped with a laser
mindful that game dealers pay better for “No hunter nor rangefinder. The average range at which
pigeons shot with steel. And if you can tap shots were taken was 31.7 yards.
into the market for lead-free carcases for observer had any The three test loads were a 2¾in
the falconry market, you’ve hit the jackpot. 12-bore 1 1∕8oz load of US No.7½ lead shot
However, a major drawback of steel inkling of what load at 1,200fps — the most popular lead load
loads is the fact that most currently use
plastic shot cups. This is a big no-no in
was being used at the for doves. Others were 1oz loads of US
No.7 and US No.6 steel, both at 1,300fps.
an age when single-use plastic pollution time of shooting” All cartridges looked identical, save for a
is a very high-profile environmental issue. code letter. They were taken from locked
Many game shoots insist on biodegradable has forced me to re-examine the issue. storage,re-coded each day and distributed
wads being used. Indeed, this is trend I stumbled on a remarkable study by the randomly, only being decoded after use
is encapsulated in the Code of Good Texas Parks & Wildlife Department that by another team. In short, no hunter nor
Shooting Practice. compared the effectiveness of steel versus observer had any inkling of what load was
Yet the use of plastic shot cups in steel lead in live quarry shooting. Field work took being used.
loads is no longer inevitable, as alternatives place in 2008 and 2009, but the results had And the results? Put simply, the Texas
are coming on to the market. A prime to go through an exhaustive peer-review Dove Lethality Study found that steel
example is Eley Hawk’s new Pro Eco Wad, process before being published in 2015. worked just as well as lead. Pattern density
which is fully biodegradeable and can be In keeping with everything about the proved to be more important than individual
used with a game load of No.5 steel shot. Lone Star State, the Dove Lethality Study pellet density. Food for thought?

DOG BY KEITH REYNOLDS

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE, ISSN 0037-4164, is published weekly, incorporating Shooting Magazine, Shooting Life, British Sportsman, The Angler’s News & Sea Fisher’s Journal and Field Sport, by TI Media Ltd,
3rd floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London, England E14 9AP, United Kingdom. © 2019 TI Media Ltd. Contributions are welcome but must be accompanied by a suitable stamped addressed envelope. Publication of accepted articles is
not guaranteed, and the publishers will not be held liable for any manuscripts, photographs or other materials lost or damaged while in their possession, though every care will be taken. The Editor reserves the right to amend
any such articles as necessary. Shooting Times & Country Magazine, as part of TI Media Ltd, is committed to supporting the editorial standards of Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, a TI Media
Ltd company, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU Tel: +44 (0)20 378 79001. Printed by Walstead UK Ltd. Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom. Subscription rates for 52 issues: UK — £143.
Priority Service (5-7 days): Europe — ¤234, ROW — £199. The US annual subscription price is $305. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals
postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE, Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscription records are maintained at TI
Media Ltd, 3rd floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London, England E14 9AP. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. All prices include postage and packing. Enquiries and subscription orders: TI Media Ltd, PO Box 272, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16
3FS. Cheques payable to TI Media Ltd. Tel: +44 (0)845 845 123 1231, fax +44 (0) 1444 445599.

58 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

 20%
discou
on you nt
year’s r first
premi
um

Whether it’s an accident out in the field, a sudden illness or an injury,

petGuard can help provide the protection you need for your working dog.
Cover features include:
• Four levels of annual vet fee cover up to £7,500
• 10% discount if you insure more than one dog with us
• Cover available for dogs over 2 months old
• Option to add Third Party Liability Cover, providing financial cover up to £1 million
per event (£250 excess applies), if your dog causes injury or property damage to
a third party.

Visit www.petguard.co.uk/shootingtimes
Or call 0345 450 7042
Petguard is a trading style of Thistle Insurance Services Limited. Thistle Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority. FRN 310419. Lloyd’s Broker. Registered in England under No. 00338645 Registered office: Rossington’s Business Park, West Carr
Road, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7SW. TI Media (Ltd) is an Appointed Representative of Thistle Insurance Services Limited.